Stranded
by SalemAnderson
Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it? **NOW COMPLETE**
1. Endless

**a/n: Not sure where this one really came from. I was talking to my husband about random things and it suddenly popped in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I wasn't going to start a new story because I am already writing a long one, but this idea came to me and wouldn't let me write the other one until I got it out of my head. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter One: Endless

Roxanne Ritchi slowly picked her head up from the hot bed of sand lying beneath her sprawled form after she awoke from the chemically-induced black out. Confusion was prevalent in her expression when she opened her eyes to the setting sun. She pushed herself up and maneuvered her legs into a sitting position, brushing the sand off of her clothes and face with her hands. Of course, her hands were covered in sand too so she wasn't making much progress. After giving up her futile attempt to clean herself up, she looked around herself to ascertain where exactly she was.

Everywhere she looked, as far as she could see, there was nothing but rocky grey sand dotted with ugly grey bushes of nasty looking twigs and a red and orange sky with streaks of dark purple clouds. The stark grey color of the sand in the waning light in contrast with the vibrant colors in the sky was striking. More striking was the black figure hunched several feet away from her, drawing in the sand with his finger. She was less confused about her location with his presence there. He hadn't acknowledged that she was awake yet. Before she had moved enough to garner his attention, she heard him muttering to himself.

His shadow was long as the sun sank to dip below the horizon. She stood and approached him cautiously. Unsure of how they had gotten into this predicament, she wanted to question him. He jumped almost a meter in the air when she touched his arm. Apparently he had been entirely lost in his own thoughts and had not seen her approach.

He was breathing heavily and had his hand over his chest as he looked at her with evident remorse in his eyes. "Oh! Miss Ritchi. You startled me!" His breathing slowed as she removed her hand from his arm and started looking around.

"Megamind, where are we?" she tried to sound cautiously curious and not pass judgment without the entire picture. She didn't entirely succeed as her question came out with more force than she'd intended.

"In the middle of the desert, obviously," his temper was evidently short. She recoiled a little at his intensity although she was not deterred from her line of questioning.

"But where?"

"I have no idea." That surprised her. He should have had at general idea of where they were.

"Ok, so how did we get out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"That's a long story. One we don't have time for at present," he stood and started pacing in a little oval, obviously annoyed by her incessant questions.

She realized that getting mad at him now would likely not help their situation, so she chose to just go with whatever he said for the time being, because, if nothing else, he was an expert in surviving. "I guess you're right. It's going to start cooling off drastically once the sun goes down, right, so what do we do about that? I've read that it can get pretty cold in the desert at night." He paused and looked at her for a moment.

"We need to find water and shelter." He turned to continue pacing as he had an uncomfortable thought, "Until Minion finds us, which is highly unlikely given the fact that we don't have a homing beacon anymore, we need to focus on keeping ourselves alive." She shuffled her feet as she absorbed what he'd said. She was hoping they'd at least have a homing beacon – of all things to forget! "We need to get to work on the water first."

"What about shelter? It's getting dark pretty fast," she questioned him but all she wanted was reassurance that he had a plan.

"I can survive for a week without water. You can't. Besides, there are other options for enough shelter to live through the night, if need be." Well, it was a very basic plan and not one with much hope because it had no direction, but at least it showed that he was thinking. And, what was that concern for her life again? He was becoming more of a puzzle to her and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Oh, really?"

He didn't respond to her inquiry as he started to walk to the top of the nearest dune. She followed along behind him silently. As they crested the sandy hill, they were disappointed to see nothing but more dunes. She rotated herself in a circle so she could survey more of the desert. They were most certainly somewhere in the middle because even from this higher vantage point, she could still see nothing but sand and sky. She let out a frustrated sigh which elicited a withering glare from him.

He started walking in one direction and didn't look to see if she was following. His determined stride was making it hard for her to catch up with him. The sun was nearly set and she could feel that the temperature was milder than it had been not 20 minutes before. That rapid of a temperature decrease was not a good sign for later that night, especially if they couldn't find shelter. Even then, they would have to hope to find something that was flammable to keep them warm enough to survive the night.

She was glad that she had dressed sensibly for this kidnapping, not that that's what she was trying to do when she'd gotten dressed that morning, but that had been the result. She was wearing a pair of jeans with her running shoes and a three-quarter sleeve-length button-down blouse in a light yellow color with a fitted but loose cut. It wasn't going to be enough if the temperature got much below 50 F, but it was all she had.


	2. Questions

**a/n: So this is turning into more of a story than I originally intended, but I guess the characters will run amok sometimes. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Two: Questions

In the end, by the time the light was completely gone, they had found neither water nor shelter. Walking together side by side under the stars, trying to find a suitable location to camp for the night, she finally asked him again, "How did we get out here?"

He sighed. Resigned to the fact that the question wasn't simply going to go away, he began to explain, "When I kidnapped you this time, we were running a little behind schedule so I was already in my robot battle-suit ready to carry out my plan and Minion was already at the site."

"Why didn't Minion come get me like usual?" she asked, interrupting his story, but sounding like she was actually surprised at the deviation from the norm. He stopped and faced her before elaborating.

"That wasn't how this plan was supposed to work, Miss Ritchi. It was supposed to be so simple; I just had to bring you to him and call your boyfriend in tights so we could begin the battle. On the way out to the site, though, something went wrong with the suit and it flew up and way off course." He gestured mimicking a rocket takeoff. Her eyes got wide as she watched and listened. How the hell had she slept through something like that? What was in that spray? He continued and she narrowed her eyes a bit, making him squirm uncomfortably. "The catastrophic system failure didn't stop there. Not only was the suit completely out of my control and flying somewhere unknown, there was also a leak in the fuel line, so there was no way to calculate where it was going to land. It just kept going up and west for all I could tell from the instruments I could see. The speed had me somewhat incapacitated during our ascent."

"What do you mean?" she asked with more concern than she would have liked given the situation he'd gotten them into.

"Well, you were strapped in because you were unconscious and I didn't want to risk you moving around and uh –" he stopped himself in mid thought.

"Getting hurt?" she finished his thought for him and found herself offering him a small smile. "You didn't answer my question."

He harrumphed and said, "I was going to say getting in my way. Anyway, I was not tied down in any manner at the time of the incident, so I was thrown against the floor and not able to move more than a few millimeters because of the G-force from our ascent." She looked at him with concern on her face. He swallowed nervously, not understanding why she cared.

"We uh," he said sheepishly, "We almost left the atmosphere but the main engine died before we broke through. When we started to fall, I tried to fire the emergency booster, but that didn't work because by that point there was not enough fuel left to ignite it. We were in free fall and I realized then that we were going to crash and although I would most likely be severely injured, I would survive. I couldn't make the same guarantee for you, so I waited until we were low enough in the atmosphere to be able to breathe and then pulled the emergency eject lever. It shot us both out of the machine.

"We landed a little ways away from where you woke up. The jet pack I was using in our escape ran out of fuel just before we landed. I had to dehydrate it so I could carry it with me. I tried to carry you with me but I didn't want to dehydrate you, so I picked you up. I didn't make it very far that way, so I put you down and waited for you to wake up." He paused for a moment, then added solemnly, "I guess I used too much of the spray on you since you were unconscious for the entire ordeal. Although, I suppose it was probably better that way," his expression was thoughtful as he concluded his story. Then he looked away from her.

Her shocked expression wore off as she took in what he'd done. Sure it was his fault they were stranded out there, but he had made a point to save her life from a certain death in a horrible crash. "I guess, thank you."

This caused him to make eye contact with her. "For what? Stranding us out here? You don't need to thank me, Miss Ritchi, I don't deserve it."

"You did save my life."

"After I put it in danger."

"You've put my life in danger before; how was this any different?"

"This was completely different. You would have certainly died."

"But you could have easily saved just yourself and increased your chances for survival. So, why didn't you?"

"Because I didn't. Don't psychoanalyze me," he stated flatly, effectively putting an end to the conversation. They had been walking as they'd conversed and as they crested the next hill, a glimmer of moonlight revealed a mangled driftwood tree a the bottom of a ravine between two hills, that looked totally out of place in the location it occupied. She pointed at her discovery and saw that he was already looking that way.

They both walked toward the disfigured dead wood as quickly as their cold legs would allow. The piece of wood was smaller than the optical illusion of distance had made it look. It was little more than a large branch. "Well, it's better than nothing," he stated quietly. There was nothing around them he could see that would make enough kindling to create a fire for them. She was shivering by that point, the temperature having dropped below her comfort threshold. She sat down next to the branch and pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, each of her hands rubbing the bicep on the opposite arm in an effort to warm up. The shivering became more violent.

He sat down next to her and she felt the warmth radiating off of his skinny form. It was like a beacon, drawing her in and she found herself scooting closer to him to steal some of his heat. He noticed her maneuver and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Just c-c-cold, a l-little," she responded as a full-body shiver made her teeth chatter. "You're s-so warm."

The leather-clad villain immediately raised his arm and motioned for her to scoot closer. She complied readily, wanting more of the comforting warmth for herself. As she moved closer, he wrapped his arm and his cape around her. She snuggled against him, and her arms naturally wrapped themselves around his waist as her head rested against his chest. He held her close and answered her implied question, "I run a little hotter than a human does."

She felt her muscles start to relax from their tense shivering as the warmth of his body spread to engulf hers. His steady breathing and the comfort of being warm after so much shivering made her start to feel sleepy. She couldn't help herself as her eyes drooped closed. She fell asleep listening to the oddly comforting sound of his steady breathing and beating heart.

He sat there letting her absorb his own warmth and relishing in the fact that he was holding her, although he knew it was merely for the sake of the shared body heat. After a while, he heard her start to snore lightly and decided it was probably time for him to get some sleep as well.


	3. Agreement

**a/n: Longer chapter this time. I hope you all are enjoying. Thank you for the wonderful reviews! Please continue to let me know what you think, it makes my muse happy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Three: Agreement

She awoke when she sensed it was starting to become light again, as per her usual sleeping habits. She found herself lying on her side with her head resting on Megamind's bicep as her body was pressed against his, his other arm wrapped tightly around her waist. His cape was wrapped around both of them from the shoulders down and he was snoring lightly behind her.

She couldn't deny the thrill she felt at waking up in the arms of the only man she had ever found remotely interesting. He was actually a complete enigma once you looked under the surface of the blundering criminal performer everyone saw. What kind of villain had morals and valued any life other than their own? She laid there thinking as she listened to him breathe behind her, enjoying his warmth as the sun began to burn off the chill of the previous night.

She heard him inhale deeply and felt him start to move a little, signaling that he was waking up. She stayed absolutely still. She felt his arm move from her waist, and then his hand settled on her hip. At that, she cleared her throat quietly to catch his attention. He froze his movements and said, "Morning." His voice was deep and gravelly from sleep and it made chills run down her neck which meshed with the electricity pulsing through her skin where his hand still rested on her hip. Did he really have that much of an effect on her?

"Morning. I guess we survived the night." He removed his hand and she sat up. He followed and she noticed his arm was dragging unnaturally. "What's wrong with your arm?"

"It's completely numb. You were using it as a pillow for most of the night." He rubbed his shoulder and she imagined the pins-and-needles feeling he was probably experiencing. That was never a pleasant sensation. She braced herself on the branch that had acted as their partial shelter and pushed herself up into a standing position. Raising her hands above her head, she stretched the stiffness out of her muscles. "We need to get moving to try to find some water as soon as possible," he said as he watched her from his position on the ground. She nodded at him and he stood up, his arm still dangling limp at his side.

"Which way are we walking?"

"I think we should head west. Follow the sun and we will eventually find civilization." She nodded. "I really wish my watch had not been lost. It would make things a lot easier."

She stared at him for a minute attempting to make sense of what he had said before she finally had to ask. "OK. How exactly could your watch have helped us?"

"It wasn't just a watch. It had a homing device as well as the ability to communicate with Minion. He would have had us found and we'd be home already if I still had it."

"Oh. What happened to it, if you don't mind my asking?" She couldn't help all of the questions she had, it was in her nature to be curious and not satisfied until she had the entire story.

"Well, I do mind," he stated bluntly and she glared at him. "Uh, well, I guess that doesn't really matter now, since we're going to die out here in all likelihood." His shoulders sagged.

"Don't talk like that. We'll get out of this, I am sure of it."

"Let us hope that you are correct." For a long moment, they regarded each other, neither one willing to break the eye contact. The situation was dire certainly but she really didn't feel it warranted the hopelessness he seemed to be feeling. As she searched his eyes, she began to see that his concern was genuine and there was more to just saving their lives behind his motivation. She suddenly felt nervous as to what those hidden feelings might be. After several long moments of tense silence, she moved closer, placed her hand on his shoulder and asked her question again.

"What happened to your watch?"

He sighed and pulled away from her. "Fine." He looked away before continuing, "It got snagged on a part of the suit as we were ejecting and ripped off of my arm. Who knows where it is now?" He snorted at his own rhetorical question. "Well, Minion probably does, not that that's a comfort."

"Look, accidents happen. It's no big deal. I trust you to get us to safety," she unexpectedly felt the need to appease his conscience for some reason. He was taking this accident very hard and she wanted him to stop dwelling on that and focus on getting them to safety. She needed him to put that impressive brain to work, not waste time with regrets.

"You trust me?" his voice cut into her thoughts. She looked into his eyes and saw a lost little child, immediately her heart reached out toward him. His vulnerability rested just below the surface as she had always thought, it just took a certain amount of persistence to get through the outward persona he used as a shield. Their seemingly hopeless predicament must have softened his defenses and allowed her inside his normally impenetrable shield.

"I do."

"Why?"

"Because I know that you would never hurt me. All those times you had me precariously perched over some seemingly horrendous death trap, I was never really in any danger. I think I always knew that."

"Was it that obvious?"

She smiled at his lack of a denial. "Not to anyone else. But then they haven't spent as much time with you as I have. I've seen you take care to make it look a lot like I was in mortal peril, but at the same time, you always made sure I was safe from actually being hurt. I even saw you reset the counter a few times. I'll admit to being pretty annoyed with the alligators and ropes and all that stuff, and those situations certainly weren't ideal, but I was never really afraid of being hurt. At least, not after the first few times."

"I…" he looked in her eyes as she spoke.

"It's ok. Your secret is safe with me." She stepped closer to him again, this time taking his gloved hand in hers.

He cracked a smirk at her and squeezed her hand before letting it go, not breaking eye contact with her. "I always wondered why you, of all people, never pressed any charges against me. You are the one who was the most hassled by my plans but you never so much as pointed a finger at me. Is that why? Because you never felt like you were in any real danger?"

She shrugged. "I never really thought about it, but you're probably right, partially at least. Maybe I felt like you got enough punishment from Metro Man and rest of the City. I mean, I wasn't exactly thrilled at being kidnapped," that was a lie and she knew it, "but it wasn't really worth adding to your problems for a mere inconvenience. I always got an exclusive interview out of it anyway, so it was kind of a job requirement." She finished her explanation and when he didn't say anything, they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence for several minutes.

He cleared his throat to break the silence. "Do you have an undershirt on?" he said suddenly.

"Yes, why?" she looked at him with confusion at the sudden change in topic.

"The sun is going to be overhead for most of the day and you are going to need to protect your face and neck or it is going to get badly burnt. You can use your undershirt as protection."

"But, what about you?"

He was momentarily stunned by her question. After several seconds, he said, "What about me?"

"You have a lot more exposed skin on your head than I do. What are you going to use for protection for your head?" He looked at her with confusion written all over his face.

"Oh, hoho, your concern is touching, Miss Ritchi," he laughed off her confusing behavior. "Anyway, I have my cape. I don't want to cut it up because of how helpful it was last night and making it smaller would curtail that benefit," he said, and then added quickly, "in case we need it again."

She seemed to accept his response and consented finally, "Oh, well I guess I need to get my undershirt off then." He watched her for a few moments as she started to remove her blouse before she saw him, gave him a slightly cross look and said, "Could you turn around at least?"

He startled and blushed before turning around and covering his eyes with his hands. She giggled but resumed removing her two shirts. She put her blouse back on and said, "Okay, it's safe." He took his hands off his eyes but didn't turn around. She giggled again. "No really, you can turn around now." He did so, but very reluctantly.

She held her undershirt, which was nothing more than a cream colored silk camisole. He saw the small article of clothing she held out to him, took it and sighed. "I guess it'll have to do." He turned the shirt over in his hand and held it out by the straps examining it to determine his method of attack. "You don't have long hair so it has to protect your neck too." She could see the wheels in his head turning as he figured out the most effective way of using the garment to cover her head and neck. "Your blouse has a collar, which will help there, but I think we can do this easily, if you are ok with destroying this shirt in the process."

"But, it's silk! Why again do I need this?"

"Because we have no idea how long we are going to be in the desert. The sun overhead is not like the sun in _Metrocity_. It is unrelenting and we have to protect ourselves from sunburn as much as possible. Sunburns that can cause dehydration by themselves. We will already be having that problem because we have limited ability to carry water with us. Please Roxanne," he pleaded and she could tell he was serious because he used her first name. He never used her first name. "I will replace it when we get home if you want."

"Okay," she agreed reluctantly. "But-I-get-three-new-ones-because-this -whole-thing-is-your-fault-and-I-promise-there-will-be-no-more-blackmail-from-me-after-this." She said it fast and he couldn't help the smile that came to his lips as he suppressed a laugh. He smirked instead.

"Ohh-kay, I'll buy you three more to replace this one. Done." Then he began cutting the shirt with scissors he had magically made appear and she couldn't watch. She heard the cutting sound of the scissors dishearteningly. She sincerely wished she had not worn that particular shirt yesterday morning. "Why did you want me to agree to that?"

The scissors continued their taunting _sching sching_ sound and she kept facing pointedly away from him. "Because my sister bought that for me last year for Christmas from Saks Fifth Avenue when she visited New York, and because they're like a hundred bucks each, so it was my absolute favorite, and I certainly can't afford to replace it. Oh, and like I said…"

"This was my fault." He looked at the ground solemnly for a moment before he returned to the work on her shirt. "You promised I will not have to com_-promise_ on anything else along our unexpected journey too."

She turned around to face him. "I didn't say that!"

"Yes you did too! Do not toy with me!" He warned her menacingly and stopped his work to look up and glare at her.

"What I said was that I would not use this situation's being your fault as blackmail again. I most certainly did not say that I couldn't disagree with your decisions or make you compromise on some things." She looked smugly sure of herself when she finished clarifying her part of the arrangement.

His glare turned into a smirk with one eyebrow raised in indignation. "You can't make me do anything, Miss Ritchi." He felt himself easily falling into the familiar childish patterns with her despite their situation.

"I just did," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"That? That was because your request amused me, nothing more," he said in annoyance. "Now, are you going to leave me be so that I can finish this or are you going to keep pestering me with requests for expen-_sieve_ clothing?" He smirked at her and she shook her head. He resumed cutting the shirt and she resumed looking everywhere else. After a few minutes, she felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and he held up the mangled shirt with a sheepish grin on his face.

"You're going to have to put that on me because I have no idea what you've done." She closed her eyes again and stood still. She felt his hands hovering around her as he positioned the head wrap he'd come up with on her head. She felt a difference almost immediately when the sun was finally off of her neck. He finished settling the fabric around her head and then she felt his warm hands brush against her face a few times as he situated everything. She again marveled at the difference in temperature between the two of them. He draped one final piece across her nose and mouth. She felt him tie it close to her ear and then his fingers poked into her shirt collar briefly. Lastly, he buttoned the top button on her shirt and adjusted the fabric over her mouth. In reality it lasted about thirty seconds.

"All done." She opened her eyes and saw her view was partially obstructed by a part of the fabric which was positioned to hang over her brow. The covering over her nose and mouth was long enough to tuck in her collar so it would cover the front of her neck as well but loose so it wasn't suffocating.

"I'm impressed. This is just my shirt?"

"Yes well, if you cut it just right and use the trim effectively, it's pretty easy." He had apparently already stowed the scissors while she wasn't paying attention because she didn't see them anymore. He had also already wrapped his cape around his head with the blue side out so it wouldn't draw in as much heat as it would have had the black side been showing. "We'd better get moving."

She nodded and said, "After you." He began walking in the direction of the rising sun and she followed close behind. After crossing several dunes, they found a patch of cacti growing in the middle of a flat stretch of dirt. He grinned gleefully as he rushed forward and cut off one of the large thick thorn-covered pods. Then he came rushing back and excitedly held it out to her.

"Suck on this."

"What?" she asked with a shocked look on her face at the suggestive comment he'd just made. She couldn't help the blush that crept up on her face at the thought.

After a moment, he realized his unintended risqué statement and blushed wildly purple in front of her. He stammered, "No, uh…no, I meant you should um…suck on the cactus bulb. There's water in it." She moved to take it from him, but he didn't let go. "I think you should let me hold this one. The spines can be quite sharp." She didn't look away from his eyes as she stepped closer to him. She put her hands on his forearms as she placed her lips against the cut edge of the plant and pulled the moisture into her mouth. Her throat felt better instantly as did her dry lips and mouth, so she kept suckling from the dangerous looking leaf until he pulled away from her slightly.

He smiled as she wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve. She watched as he brought the cactus to his own lips. He was just then trying to pull some of the life-saving liquid out of the plant for himself when it occurred to her that he had again put his own comfort aside for her benefit first. He would have more easily handed her one of the leaves and told her to be careful than done as he had and held it for her to make sure she didn't hurt herself. Again, she was confused by his concern for her, though she really shouldn't have been, as his feelings were only slightly less than obvious if she stepped back and looked at things objectively. This realization was accompanied by the surprise that she was actually happy that he felt that way about her.

He finished drinking the liquid that was left in the plant and tossed it on the ground. She stood where she was watching him as he proceeded to cut several of the larger leaves off of the cacti in front of them, tossing them in a pile. It turned out that the knife he had been using was also the scissors he had used earlier and as they then became a pair of pliers. He grabbed each cactus leaf in turn and used the pliers to remove the spines from all of them. He dehydrated each one and stowed them all in his belt. "Well, at least we'll be covered on water for a few days."

"But doesn't dehydrating it make it necessary to have some type of liquid available to re-hydrate it?" she asked, hoping that he had thought that far ahead.

"Yes, well, I assume saliva will be sufficient for that so long as we don't push it on letting our mouths become dried out. Breathe out of your nose as much as possible and that will help." After he had finished, they continued along their path following the sun across the sky. The heat was not horrible at first but as the sun got closer to being straight overhead, the temperature soared and became a dry stagnant heat that was overpowering to them both. They leaned on each other as they attempted again to look for shelter. They followed the sun until it was immediately in front of them as it sank toward the horizon.


	4. Rest for the Weary

**a/n: 12 reviews! I can't believe it! Thanks, you remarkable readers, you! I'm so glad you like this story, it's been a fun one to write. This chapter is just a little break for our favorite couple, I thought they deserved one!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Four: Rest for the Weary

This time, they were unsuccessful in finding anything to use as a partial shelter for the night. The best they could do was a tall dune to make camp behind, which they hoped would provide enough protection from the wind and early morning sun as the tree branch had the previous morning. After they had shared another of the cactus pods, Megamind dug out an area that was flat enough for them to sleep on and removed most of the large rocks, so she willingly settled against him under his cape to find comfort and warmth for the night. The fire he had set with the twiggy bushes provided some warmth to them until it started to die out. The residual heat underneath the cape that had built up between the two of them was too comforting to make either of them want to get up to re-stoke it so they just let it die.

They both lay on their backs pressed against each other along one side, staring up at the stars. "I can't believe how many more stars you can see out here."

He chuckled at her amazement, "Outside the light pollution of the city, and with no clouds overhead, there is nothing to prevent you from seeing every star visible from Earth. At least, all of the stars visible from this side of the planet at this hour. Do you see the really bright blue one right there near the horizon?" He asked softly, but resisted pointing because he would have disturbed their blanket.

"I think so. Which star is that?" She reveled in his closeness as they stargazed. Despite their being trapped in this less than ideal situation, he was being irresistibly charming thus far that night and she found herself once again thinking along excitingly frightening lines upon which she thought she had long since given up.

"It's not a star," he instructed her as she gazed at the bright blue light in the sky. She thought it looked like the exact same hue as his remarkable skin. Why was she suddenly thinking so much about him? Maybe she hadn't ever been able to see this side of him before. Maybe she liked this side of him.

"It's not?" She encouraged him to teach her.

"Nope. It's a planet. That's why it is so bright."

"Wow." She prodded; she just wanted to hear his voice.

He had a tremendous feeling in his chest when she said that word. He couldn't explain it. "That's Venus."

"Did you know it was named after the Roman Goddess of Love?" He froze at her statement momentarily.

"Yes, Miss Ritchi, I did know that. I know more than most people do about astronomy. It is something of a hobby of mine."

"I guess that makes sense, all things considered. Have you found it yet?"

"It?"

"Your planet." He stiffened beside her somewhat. She thought she had hit on a nerve and prepared herself to receive a rebuff. He just breathed steadily for a moment as he stared up at the night sky. She looked at him, waiting for a response to her question.

He sighed. She was certainly one for asking the uncomfortable questions. He knew from experience that she would never let things just drop, so he answered her quietly. "I found it once when I was a kid. The Glaupunk star is – was – about ten light years away from the Sol system. Before it imploded and became a black hole anyway. The Earth scientists had named it SC1208." His voice became momentarily solemn.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me this if you don't want to." She really wanted him to tell her as she was now insanely curious about the story he was starting to tell her. She hoped he would continue.

"No, it's ok." He shifted his position and she felt her hand fall into his accidentally due to their relative positions under the cape. She didn't move it. "I was seven. One of the guards, a young man named Michael, took a liking to me and found out that I was obsessed with astronomy. He somehow arranged special permission to bring me to the old Metrocity observatory after hours a few times. I had been researching the location of the star for some time in the prison library's limited selection of astronomy books, having Minion's and my own memories of the location, despite our ages when we left. The maps they had were old, but the stars rarely change." She turned her head to watch him. He was subdued but smiled as he spoke. "Well, the second time he brought me there, I found it."

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "Wait – if you knew where to look, why did you not find it until the second visit?"

He laughed out loud. "Well, they only gave me an hour with the equipment. The first time, most of that was spent learning how to use it. No one was willing to teach me and there wasn't exactly an instruction manual, so I didn't get a chance to actually look for the star until the second visit a few days later. I was only seven!" He looked at her momentarily before resting his head back against the sand and looking to the stars again. "The star was beautiful, and I could see the planets too with the powerful telescope they had there. The system had six planets. The two in the middle were the small blue planet I came from – Sanipriya – and the larger golden one Metro Man came from – Zaranya."

"But, if your planets were destroyed when you left as babies, how did you see them?"

He chuckled. "Space is a big place. Light years in distance are also sort of a window back into time. My home star was about ten light years away, as I said, which means it takes ten years for the light from the system to travel to this planet. In essence, I was looking back in time."

She knew the tragic history and sensed something had happened to him more recently than his young childhood that had made her question so uncomfortable for him to answer. He continued without her interruption, "I snuck out of the prison and went back to that observatory when I was eleven. I knew it wouldn't be there, but I looked for the star again anyway, remembering exactly the stellar coordinates from four years previously. Well, of course, it was gone. Nothing was there at all. Black holes are so dense with gravity that even light can't escape. It was much harder for me to see the emptiness after having actually seen my planet before. I kind of reacted badly. That's why the observatory had to close down. The telescope was irreparable. It was my third act of vandalism. My first real prison sentence."

"That's horrible. I'm sorry, Megamind," it was all she could think to say. What do you to say to someone who's the last surviving member of his race when he talks about the destruction of his planet and witnessing the aftermath? This was too much for her. She wanted to comfort him but wasn't completely convinced she wouldn't be overstepping a boundary. His bad self image was rooted in so much personal pain. She settled for just laying next to him as they continued looking at the stars until they both drifted off to sleep.


	5. Dehydrated

**a/n: Little bit of a longer chapter than the last one. Being dehydrated (I don't mean by the De-gun) is no fun, believe me. I you've never experienced what Megs does at the beginning of this chapter, count yourself lucky. I used to get them in high school all the time, and they are horrible, especially when they happen the way it does for him. I would wake up screaming and my dad was always the one to help me. Sorry, Megs!**

**Happy New Year, Everyone! And, I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you guys like my little story, and I am so grateful for all the wonderful reviews. I hope I keep your interest up! I am anxious to know what you think about where this is going. I hope to have the next chapter finished and posted before I have to go back to work on Tuesday, but I have family stuff out of the house all day tomorrow so I won't be able to work on it much then. I think I will have plenty of time on Monday though. I love paid holidays! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Five: Dehydrated

Very early the next morning, she was awakened by his sudden movement. They had slept in the same manner as before, it seeming to be the most sensible for the two of them to do. He stood up like someone had lit his cape on fire. "Ooooh!" he danced around, holding his left calf gingerly. "Cramp! Owwwwwww!" She knew exactly the pain he had to be feeling, having been a runner in college. She was quite familiar with the sudden onset of the Charlie Horse, particularly while sleeping. She had long since figured out how to get rid of the sensation as soon as she felt it start, and usually before the pain became unbearable.

She found herself approaching him cautiously despite his wild movements. "It's a Charlie Horse. Let me help you, please." He stilled his gyrations at her sudden closeness to prevent himself from accidentally hurting her, although he was still cradling his leg, wincing as the sharp pain was still stabbing at him and making him want to cry out. He bit into his own lip hard to prevent himself from doing just that, although tears flowed down his face. The low light of the pre-dawn morning was the only fortunate thing about this entire horrible occurrence. She may have heard what he said, but she couldn't see his weakness and for that he was grateful.

He agreed reluctantly. "Okay."

"Sit down, this will be easier," she instructed as she smiled and reached forward for his foot. He sat and held his leg out, still cradling the area that was hurting. She grabbed the toe of his boot. "Are these boots very flexible?"

"Of course! I need to be able to move, not be restricted by my clothing," he snapped. She was taking an excruciatingly long time to help him if that's what she was intending to do.

"All right. You are going to have to trust me. I don't have to take your shoe off so I just need you to sit still. Okay?" she looked to him for an answer, her eyes showing concern but amusement at the same time. He couldn't see her face any more than she could see his. She grabbed the toe of his boot and began to push on it, moving it toward his shin, stretching the calf muscle slowly. At first he wanted to pull his foot away from her, but as soon as the cramp started to subside, he started to breathe more easily as he realized she knew what she was doing, not just guessing.

"Oh, my God! That was the worst thing I have ever felt in my entire life." It wasn't entirely true, but it was close. He'd felt worse things as a child that he would rather not think about, but the sharp unexpected pain brought the memories to the surface.

"Yeah, I know. Now, you will still feel a knot for a while. Just keep stretching your calf the way I just did for you and the pain won't come back." She stood back up and held her hand out to him to help him up. He took it and rose to his feet slowly, favoring the leg that hadn't been beset by the spasm from hell.

"I mean I get why it happens, but why does it have to be so painful? That was almost too much pain to take. Have you ever been woken up that way?"

"Yeah, a few times. It is preventable, but you have to be sure to stay hydrated and eat potassium rich foods, like bananas, if you are using your muscles for strenuous activity." He looked at her, impressed at her extensive knowledge. It being still dark, they couldn't see each other of course, but he looked all the same. She really was an impressive creature for a human. "I was a runner in college," she said, filling the silence, "and sometimes, my budget did not allow me to eat as well as I should have." She then remembered something he'd said and asked, "Wait. You know why it happens?"

"Well, yeah, that's just basic anatomy. Potassium, Calcium and water deficiency combined with excessive use causes lactic acid to build up in the tissue which results in distress in the muscle. The cramp ensues when some kind of small trauma occurs. In this case, I believe all I did was point my toe."

"That is good to know. If you know how something happens, you can prevent it. But I have no idea how we are going to find potassium and calcium out here." She bounced on the balls of her feet, suddenly cold from the early morning air that gusted around her. She was hesitant to suggest getting back under the cape with him.

"We do need to find some kind of food. We have not eaten anything in almost two days. Depending, of course, on whenever the last time you ate before I kidnapped you. When was that, by the way?"

"Uh. L-lunch, I th-think." She started to rub her arms with her hands.

"Are you cold?" he sounded concerned again. She could see more of him in the early morning light now becoming brighter at the horizon.

"Yesssss," she replied, obviously shivering. He bent down and grabbed the cape off the ground, shaking it to remove the sand. Stepping over to her, he wrapped the fabric around her shoulders and tied the knot to make it stay there. After the fabric was positioned so it fully covered her body, he began to rub her arms. She found herself unable to resist and threw her arms around the middle of his body, pressing herself into his warm chest, knowing that sharing his wonderful body heat would be the fastest way for her to stop the shivering.

He froze for a long moment as his brain restarted. Slowly, as if he had to tell each one to do so, he wrapped his arms around her back and held her tightly against him. They stood that way for a long moment as the trembles in her body slowly subsided. She didn't let go of him once they had, preferring to remain warm. After a long silence, he spoke up. "We should get moving now that we can see the sunrise beginning. We need to find some food. Perhaps we will get lucky and find a snake or rat."

"It's warm here. I don't want to move yet."

"You'll warm up as we get moving. You can keep the cape for now, but once the sun comes up, I will need it back." He dropped his arms from her and she stubbornly resisted the implication that she should do the same. After a moment, he placed his arms gently on her biceps and pushed her away from him. Her head wrap was still draped around her neck so she could pull it up onto her head as soon as she needed to. She only needed to retie the face guard piece. They began to walk away from the sunrise and made some good time. He was right about her warming up as they began to move. The slight chill she had been feeling had dissipated rapidly as they struggled up the rocky sand hills. After the sun was barely above the horizon, she relinquished the cape to his possession, assuring him that she was warm enough now.

They walked for several hours, struggling along their way and helping each other up and down the rocky hills. As noon approached, passed and was long gone, they finally saw some movement ahead. He motioned for her to stop and crept forward to the edge of a large rock in their path. He examined the scene in front of him more closely and identified three rodents that appeared similar to squirrels which were foraging amongst a group of the dead-looking grey twig-bushes. Slowly, he drew his De-gun, spinning the barrel slowly to set it to De-stroy and took aim at the two rodents who were nearest to each other to cause the most damage with the only shot he was going to get at this. He set the intensity of the blast to medium-low because he wanted to kill the rodents, not disintegrate them.

He did indeed manage to hit two of them. Their fur had been charred off and the flesh slightly cooked by the blast. He picked the two of them up and started to stomp down on one of the grey dead-looking bushes. He wasted no time in setting a fire, skewering his kill on two of the larger twigs, and attempting to roast the rodents to make them more palatable.

She watched what he did from the distance of the rock he had left her standing behind. Once she saw him start the fire, she moved toward him quickly, reaching out to him as she arrived. She put her hand on his arm and he turned to look at her. "Food," he said with a smile, "it will be ready in a minute or three."

"Smells wonderful," she said honestly. Having no food for more than 40 hours would have made cooked cactus smell good, but this actually did smell decent. After what seemed like no time at all, he handed her one of the sticks with the smoking charred rodents on the end of it.

"Bon appetite!" he laughed as he took a bite of the stringy flesh. She did the same. It tasted a little like chicken but had the texture of rubber. She ate it greedily and too quickly threw the carcass down picked clean. It hit his own lunch remains when it landed. They looked at each other. He smiled. She smiled back. He pulled one of the pod-cubes from his belt and spat on it.

"That was delicious," she said licking the greasy remains off her lips. He watched her closely, entranced at first by the glistening of the grease on her lips and then by the path her tongue took as it traversed the plump petals that guarded the entrance to her mouth. She noticed him staring and smirked at him. "So, now that we've had lunch, we should get moving again, right?"

"Yes, after you have had a nice long drink of this, Miss Ritchi.

"Okay," she said and took the thick leaf from him to get some moisture for her dry throat and body. He watched her again, unable to resist. He only stopped when she pulled the cactus away from her lips and handed it back to him.

He shook himself visibly, wiping the remains of his meal on the sleeve of his uniform. No one knew of the chemical concoction that he and Minion had stumbled upon. They used to treat all of his clothing because it completely repelled dirt and grease. The dirt and grease would just dry up and flake off of the fabric after a while. The same couldn't be said for his skin, but his clothes would remain clean. Even the sand was not really an issue for him unless it got between the suit and his skin. He had been lucky thus far to avoid that particular occurrence. He explained as much to her when she asked why he used his sleeve, of all things, as a napkin. She was stunned at his brilliance yet again. Something like that would revolutionize the modern world and he had apparently never thought of sharing the technology. "Come on, let's go." He turned to start up the next rocky hill and she followed behind him.

After walking for quite a while, him watching their progress and not paying attention to her at all, she finally decided to break the silence. "Why don't you sell your inventions and give up your life of crime, Megamind? You could be richer than God!" She gestured with her hands far apart to indicate 'a lot' as she exclaimed the last part.

"Why should I? What makes you think anyone would care about my ideas?" he asked softly but with an edge to his voice.

"Because some of the stuff you come up with is completely brilliant!" He blushed and she continued, "This fabric thing for instance. That could completely revolutionize the textile industry."

"Miss Ritchi, no one in this world would take me seriously long enough to let me show them my inventions for any reason other than attacking the city," he said with a disheartening sigh. His stride became more determined until he reached the base of a particularly steep hill. The light was waning as the sun sank below the horizon. He noticed a dip in the side of the hill a short ways up and decided it would make an excellent camp. Being sure that they collected some of the twiggy bushes to make a fire, he led her to their campsite for the night. He was happy to see that it was much less rocky of an area than the rest of the hillside. It would make a much more pleasant pallet to sleep on.

He broke apart and piled up several of the twigs to make a pile of kindling for their fire. After he had set up the pile, he pulled out his De-gun and shot at the bottom of the pile with the low setting, igniting a small fire. She still snuggled against him under the cape because she knew the fire would not last the entire night and there was already more chill in the air than was comfortable for her.

Being worn out from their hot climbing trail of the day, they were both very tired. He insisted that they drink more cactus juice before they fell asleep so that they would not become further dehydrated.

"I don't want any," she said sleepily as he tried to hand her one of the pods he'd just rehydrated with his saliva.

"You have to," he insisted as he tried once again to force one of the pods into her grasp. She resolutely refused to take it out of his hand. He did not want to drop it, so he had such a tight hold on it that some of the precious moisture was leaking out of the cut end.

"No, I don't. It tastes bad. You can't make me do anything," she was delirious, that was the only explanation he could come up with that was plausible. She knew the moisture was a life saver but she was still refusing to take it from him.

"Roxanne, don't make me restrain you and force you to drink this. You need it. Drink it. NOW." The forceful tone of voice he used with her in combination with using her first name again, left no question to be asked. She absolutely had no choice, so she took the pod from him and obediently drank the liquid. As she slowly swallowed the moisture her thoughts became clearer. She came to her senses as her body took in the moisture and looked at him gratefully for being in control of the situation and not letting her be stubborn to her detriment. He was drinking from his own pod as she grinned at him.

"I seem to have a lot of reasons to thank you lately."

"Don't be silly. I am just trying to ensure our survival. I need your help to get out of this and being dehydrated reduces your ability to assist me when I need you," he told her, although he knew he was not being entirely truthful with her. He would never willingly allow something bad to happen to her. It would kill his soul if she was ever seriously injured or – God forbid – if she died. He dared not think about it.

She accepted his dismissal of his kindness to her as the norm and resisted the urge to argue that she knew it was more than the simple excuse he'd given her. She didn't want to accept it because she knew she felt more for him than any other man ever in her life and she would swear on her own life that he reciprocated those emotions in kind. She did not want to make things awkward between them however since things had, aside from the occasional spat, been tolerable between them for most of this fiasco. She did not want him to feel too weird to hold her while they slept because she needed that much from him just to survive. So, she dropped it and yawned widely to let him know she was tired.

He tossed his spent cactus off to the side and motioned for her to sit next to him as he moved his legs out to the side and lay down. She did as instructed again, feeling strangely comforted by being told what to do.

She lay down on her side next to him and snuggled back against his body, his arm wrapped around her waist for convenience's sake. His other arm became her pillow again and as she drifted off to sleep, she could have sworn she felt his nose nuzzle into her and his warm breath in her hair.


	6. Unexpected

**a/n: Well now, ask and you might just receive, Ms. Karen B. Jones! :) Things start getting interestng in this chapter. I hope you all like it! Let me know what you think. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. So you know, my husband laughs at me because I do a little happy dance whenever I get a "Review Alert" email. :D **

******Rated T for some mildly descriptive semi-adult activities****.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Six: Unexpected

They slept in much the same way as the previous two nights with one minor exception. At some point during their slumber, she had managed to turn around so her head was under the cape and her face was buried in his chest with his arm wrapped around her back and their legs, completely outside the cover of the cape, were tangled together in a very provocative manner. He awoke before she did, and well before the sun began to come up over the horizon. He wanted to stand and stretch but found that he was not able to move very far due to his entanglement with her. Her arm was draped over his waist and holding him tightly. He was of course thrilled to be lying next to her with her body so willingly pressed against his, and he couldn't help the physical reaction his own body had. In her sleep-induced haze, she slowly became conscious of something that wasn't there before pressing against her leg very close to her um...self; immediately her eyes flew open and she inhaled sharply. She saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. "Uh, hi," her muffled voice came from the area of his chest.

"Heh…" he chuckled shyly; he knew she had to be feeling uncomfortable by his involuntary faux pas.

It actually thrilled her more than he realized that she had that effect on _him_, of all people. She hadn't had so much as a single opportunity to have that effect on anyone ever since that blasted rumor about her and Wayne had started. No one had dared for fear that Wayne would pummel them. And now, to have this specific man pressed against in the state he was in, it turned her on more than she thought possible. Before he realized what she was doing, she had wrapped one leg around his hip, stretched herself up and covered his lips with her own. She felt his reticence to return the gesture but she grabbed a hold of his shirt and pressed her lips more firmly against his; he found he could no longer resist and began to kiss her back eagerly. His hold on her waist tightened as he returned her kisses passionately. Her lips parted at some point to let his tongue have access to hers which it took advantage of eagerly and immediately despite their both having morning breath.

Several passionate moments later, he reluctantly pulled away from her and looked into her eyes, trying to gauge her reaction to their activities. He was most delighted to find her face flushed and her eyes looking on him with desire burning in them. He couldn't resist pressing his lips against hers in another brief heated exchange. His hand eventually found its way into her hair and as their kiss continued, she felt him start to push her over so he would be hovering on top of her. She closed her eyes but kept her lips firmly pressed against his when he laid himself on top of her. He ran his hands very slowly down the sides of her body, his fingers fanning out and gyrating seductively to touch as much of her as he could, as he kissed her deeply and more feverishly than he had been before.

Her arms wrapped firmly around his neck and held him to her so he had to continue his merciless assault on her lips. She enjoyed the feeling of his warm weight pressed against her body and rocked her hips against him seductively, which sadly had the exact opposite effect of the one she'd intended. His attentions to her mouth slowed and eventually stopped. He pulled himself off of her and lay on his side next to her, his hand resting on her stomach and his head resting against his other palm, propped up on his elbow. She remained on her back but snuggled her head and shoulder closer to him, draping her arm over his side under his own arm. She closed her eyes and dozed under the cape, willingly wrapped up in him for a long time. He seemed to be paralyzed by the situation and it would be a long time in coming before he realized he could move again, so he laid there and stewed in his own thoughts.

He was decidedly less peaceful about the situation, being completely confused by her actions while still feeling fully aroused from what they had been doing. Her proximity was not helping his thoughts to become unclouded. He didn't understand why she had kissed him in the first place. It didn't mean that he wasn't ecstatic that she had kissed him, or that he hadn't enjoyed it, but he just couldn't wrap his considerable brain around the idea that she had actually wanted to kiss him. Her actions since she woke up seemed to indicate that she not only wanted to kiss him, she wanted more than that. He just couldn't help but feel that hers was merely an act of desperation because of the seeming hopelessness of their situation.

As the sun came fully up over the horizon, it began to become uncomfortably hot underneath the cape. He began to shift around as he felt pain in his hip from the abuse of being laid on for too long make its presence known loudly. She was startled from her peaceful daydreaming as he moved around and so pulled her arm back away from him. He was on his feet instantly, the cape falling to the ground in front of her. She stood up more slowly and stretched her muscles.

"We need to keep heading west. We'll find civilization soon and then we can get back to Metrocity," he said somberly and turned to begin their trek through the hills for the day, hoping that today they would finally find some sign of civilization. She retrieved the cape from the ground where it was lying in a heap, draped it over her arm, and began to follow him. He reached the top of the hill first and immediately stopped and ducked, motioning for her to stop where she was. She, of course, didn't stop, but she did duck down and crawl up to see what he saw on the other side of the embankment.

She saw two small trucks and one large truck driving along what she assumed was a road not too far away. She was happy about seeing the road, but Megamind seemed anxious when she looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Those are government trucks." He looked back at the road and she thought she understood his anxiety. She had no idea what else he had already determined. As she looked back to the road, she saw the tarp over the large object riding on the flatbed truck flap up and away from the object it was covering. She gasped as she instantly recognized the signature shiny black metal with sharp spikes on the part of the machine they were moving on the truck.

"Is that your robot?" She asked and he nodded all at the same time.

"Yes," he said with a deadly serious look on his face. "And I know where they are taking it. We have to stop them. That suit had an experimental propulsion and guidance system that I cannot let them get their hands on." He started to run down the side of the hill toward the road. She stumbled and fell trying to keep up with him. He stopped long enough to help her up before he took off again in the direction of the retreating trucks. Now that they were on relatively flat land, she was able to run along with him with little problem, her muscles easily remembering their former uses, although they protested to being misused in such a way without being properly warmed up first. Eventually they reached the road and he slowed his pace to a quick walk. She thankfully did the same and walked next to him, joging occasionally to keep up with his pace.

**a/n: So I realize this is a horrible place to leave off. I am going to work on getting Chapter 7 up later today if I can!**


	7. Unfortunate Discovery

**a/n: Government trucks! That can't be good… So I felt really bad about where the last chapter left off so I finished this chapter too. I don't think I left it any better here though. Sorry! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Seven: Unfortunate Discovery

After they both made sure their headwraps were situated, they walked briskly along the road for several miles. Their trek continued in silence for quite a while before he spotted something that made him gasp in surprise. She followed his line of sight and saw the same three trucks all pulled over alongside of the road next to a small diner in the middle of the flat barren landscape. He took off in a full out run for the area and she did her best to keep up with him. His lithe form gave him some advantages that she apparently did not possess when it came to running. The spring in his step propelled him along much faster than she was able to run. The lack of any substantial food she'd had since the start of their journey wasn't a help either. They were able to run very close to the diner and trucks before the men who were driving the trucks emerged and made to continue their journey having just completed their meal inside. He still hadn't told her where they were going. Once the men had climbed into their vehicles, he grabbed her arm and ran at full speed again toward the back of the flatbed. The truck started moving forward as he reached it.

He managed to grab onto the bumper and pull himself up as the truck slowly increased its speed. She stumbled behind him, his grasp on her wrist tightening to an uncomfortable firmness. He pulled himself up onto the truck with his free hand and planted his knees on the flatbed, pivoting to reach out for her other hand to help her up. After reaching desparately, he finally managed to capture her other hand. "Miss Ritchi!" he yelled as she looked like she was about to trip. He would surely lose his grip on her!

Suddenly, the driver hit his brakes causing him to tug on her arms as hard as he could as he lost his balance; she flew up to land squarely on top of him as he fell backward with their momentum. They heard a gruff male voice yelling muffled expletives at someone for a moment and then the rumbling movement began again. She got up off of him quickly and he stood as well. After he was on his feet, he removed his cape from his head, dropping it on the floor of the trailer and immediately began moving to find a way to climb up the machine toward the cockpit. She stayed where she was, untied the loose knot holding the drape over her nose and mouth and said in a stage whisper, "What are you doing?"

He responded loudly, not fearing being overheard due to the noise the driver had to be hearing coming from the engine of the truck. "Looking for the homing beacon," he said shortly. As he made his way upward along the wreckage, he located and pressed a button immediately below the dome of the cockpit. There was a hiss and a small compartment opened. A cell phone looking device was extended from the compartment and he grabbed it. He pressed the button again and the little door closed with the same hiss as before. Stowing the device in his belt, he climbed up higher on the machine toward the broken glass of the cockpit dome. It looked as if they had ejected straight through the glass. That explained a little more why she was unconscious longer than normal. She'd probably hit her head on the way out of the death trap. The realization didn't make him feel any better about it.

He looked into the cockpit for the errant watch he had so wished for upon the commencement of their journey. He spotted the end of one of the straps on the floor and excitedly jumped into the cockpit to grab it. He rushed forward and pinched the leather band between his fingers, lifting it off the floor only to be disappointed when he realized that's all it was. The watch itself was nowhere to be seen. He'd have to scrounge some other parts to fix the homing signal so Minion and the Brainbots could find them. He moved to the control panel and removed a few of the panels with the screwdriver he produced from his tool stash in his boot heel.

She had waited below and all she could hear were noises of scraping metal. It was making her nervous. She looked up at the mangled wreckage and was again reminded at the certainty of her death had he left her in the robot when he ejected. She knew he cared for her. She cared for him too, but she couldn't let herself just get involved with a criminal, no matter how ridiculously attracted she was to him and how much she genuinely liked him. She had seen there was much more to him in these short days than anyone else had previously known. She was convinced he could have a very profitable career as an inventor if he decided to stop trying to kill Metro Man. She found herself wanting him to choose that path more than anything as she realized that he was exactly her type of guy, minus the criminal record. She watched as he slowly made his way back down the mangled body of the robot to the floor of the trailer where she stood. He had a handful of parts in his grasp and as he sat down on the floor right where they stood, placing the parts around him in a semi-circle. He retrieved his little tool kit from his boot's heel.

He took the device he'd called a homing beacon out of his belt and began to examine it. He took the plastic covering off of it so he could get to the inner circuit boards. She watched him fiddle with the thing using a small screwdriver he had in his tool kit, not understanding at all what he was doing, but assuring herself all the while that he did. After several minutes he let out a frustrated sigh and she felt the need to ask what was wrong. She resisted, knowing she would only exacerbate the situation. He fiddled with the thing for several more minutes before she saw a tiny light start to blink steadily on it. He placed it on the ground with a mild look of disgust on his face. "Stupid imported circuit boards. My technology is more durable than this junk! This is the last time I order anything online instead of just creating the darn thing myself!" He ended his rant with a finger raised in the air dramatically.

She couldn't help but giggle at his seriousness since he looked so silly to her. The effect of the sound of her laughter at dissolving tension in him was magical. He tried to look at her sternly but did not see anything but joyful laughter on her face in the sparse light and his face broke into a grin. He couldn't help but laugh with her at the absurdity of the situation. He told her of his partial success at repairing the beacon, "I got the homing beacon repaired so it's transmitting again. The bad news is that the communicator is beyond repair, so we still have no way to communicate with Minion. Hopefully he will still get the signal and come for us.

He reached into his belt again and pulled out two small silver packages and, miracle of miracles, two small bottles of clear water. "These were the emergency rations on board the suit. It's not much, but –"

"It's perfect," she interrupted him as he was handing her one of the bars and one of the bottles. She unwrapped the foil around her ration bar, being careful not to tear it so she could reuse it. She had no intention of eating the entire thing now. She bit off the corner of the thick heavy cake. It was sweet and had a pleasant fruity flavor so she could hardly taste the vitamins and other raw nutrients the bar had to be packed with. This must be another Minion original. "Mmm. This has to be the tastiest ration cake I have ever had."

"Thank you," he said with a genuine smile on his face. It was the first smile she'd gotten since they'd parted company under the cape that morning and it made her feel better instantly.

"You made these?" She wanted to keep him talking.

"Of course I did," his smug reply was tempered by his amazement that she liked them, and then something occurred to him. "Wait. Just how many ration cakes have you tried, Miss Ritchi?"

She laughed and said, "Well, I guess you haven't seen every report I've ever done. In college, I was assigned to do a fluff piece - I guess that's what you could call it - about ration bars that were available to outdoor sports enthusiasts, and they had me taste test a lot of different brands to complete my research for the story. They mostly tasted horrible and the ones that didn't taste bad usually had so much sugar in them they might as well have been candy bars. You could say I am something of an expert on them." She had a certain amount of satisfaction in her voice. "How did you come up with the recipe?"

She succeeded in making him forget that he was upset and he responded to her question freely, "Well, like any other emergency ration bar, these cakes are loaded with vitamins, nutrients and calories. You won't feel full but a few bites of the bar will give you enough calories to last for several hours. I started with a basic recipe; adding the extra ingredients to make it taste good did not diminish the nutritional value at all. And using strong fruit flavors like mango, pineapple and banana, I didn't have to add too much to the mixture to get the desired taste in the final product. Believe it or not, I had anticipated a situation like the one we've been in for the last few days. I just didn't anticipate becoming separated from the suit."

She was constantly and pleasantly surprised by him and his creations. She didn't understand what could possibly have happened to him to make such a beautiful mind turn to evil. She broke off a piece of the ration bar and placed it on her knee. She wrapped up the rest of the bar to save for later and put it down on the ground. She picked up the piece she had broken off to eat and bit off a small piece. She'd learned in those starving-college-student days that if you have a small amount of food, if you eat it in smaller bites and make it last longer, drinking water all along, you can trick your mind into thinking you ate more than you did.

She didn't waste the water, but she still couldn't help the habit of nibbling her food when it was so scarce. He watched her as he ate his own portion of his bar, entranced by the adorable movements she was making as she munched on the cake. He'd always been the type to do everything in the quickest way possible and so he had taken half of his piece in one bite and was about to toss the other half into his mouth when he noticed she was watching him back. He smirked at her and popped the remaining bit of food into his mouth to eat it. He leaned back against the side of the robot suit as he finished chewing. She continued her nibbling, returning her attention to the dirt caking her own clothes.

He watched her while she finished eating and remembered back to the morning encounter. It was a very pleasant memory as memories went, especially since she had been the one to start it, but that didn't make him any less confused about it. He longed to ask her exactly why she'd kissed him like that and before he could stop himself, he blurted it out loudly. "Why did you do that?" he asked suddenly. Their earlier easy mood dissolved as he brought the thought that had been plaguing him back to the forefront of his mind and decided to have it out with her.

"What?" she replied with honest confusion in her voice. She had been doing nothing more than sitting silently next to him eating. She had been lost in her own thoughts watching the bed of the trailer or staring at the canopy over them created by the ugly green tarp. She had been thinking about the feeling of his lips against hers, the way he'd been shy and reluctant at first but then became more bold when she had refused to let him pull away.

"This morning," he said, still not really elaborating on his question. She, however, understood exactly what he had been talking about and blushed furiously since she had just been thinking about the same thing.

Although embarrassed in the extreme, she managed to reply coolly, "I was curious." That was a horrible excuse and she knew it was going to upset him, but being completely unsure of what his thoughts on the matter would be because of his behavior since then, she resisted telling him the real reason. After their exchange of this morning, he had become strangely distant and with the exception of the cake discussion, he had not spoken to her unless absolutely necessary since then. She was thoroughly confused because it had seemed in the heat of the moment like he had wanted it as much as she had.

"Curious?" He was offended. She was playing with his emotions, teasing him, and he was not about to let her have that power over him especially since he knew there was no possible way she actually wanted him the same way. She belonged to his nemesis! She had to be playing with him, there was no other explanation given the facts. He became angry with her casual attitude about the situation. His brow furrowed as he glared at her, resenting his stupid mind for even bringing up the topic. Especially since this is how she was going to react.

"Yeah," she said, still not looking at him. She was fully oblivious to the category five hurricane raging just below the surface of his unnatural quiet, like being in the eye of the storm. "I don't know. I wanted to try." He stared hard at her and she finally looked up to notice the intensity of his gaze with a sudden uneasiness. "Why do you ask?"

He didn't answer at first and she started to feel anxious. Suddenly, the eye passed and the hurricane raged forward as he stormed off toward the front of the trailer, jumping and climbing over the suit to get away from her, as he muttered to himself, "Wanted to try… hmmph…" His stride was long and he quickly moved away from her, "Not… some science experiment… can't… she… tricked…" She heard less and less the further away he got from her. For someone with such a short stature, he sure could move quickly when he wanted to. She tried to climb over the suit. "Can't believe I…"

She saw him suddenly stop climbing, his face turning a pale blue as the blood drained out of it. She stumbled but finally got past the part of the suit that was in her way, as she hurried to get over to him. She fell off the last part of the suit and landed just behind him with an "Ooof." She got to her feet and directed her own gaze to where he was looking. Minion's suit was strapped to a steel frame attached to the trailer, but the tank was dark and empty. "Oh my!" She may not have been as smart as he was about some things, but she knew exactly what this meant.


	8. Resolve

**a/n: Sorry I got tied up with work for the last two days. I didn't get to finish this until just now, so please forgive me for the delay. :)**

******** RATED T: Discussion of a few disturbing things ahead, don't read if you are squeamish! A little strong language too, sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Eight: Resolve

"No!" Megamind said angrily. "I protected him from this for all these years, and they get him now!" He raged and began to turn violently purple as he shook in place. It really scared her. It was the first time she could remember being truly scared in his presence. "This can't be happening!"

Roxanne knew exactly what the suit's presence meant. She'd seen news specials and documentaries about supposed aliens in government labs and the kinds of experiments that were done on them. "We have to get him back."

"That's the understatement of the century. Those bastards are sadistic. They will kill him just to find out what makes him tick. How he can control his mechanical body, why he can talk, all of it. He won't survive what they'll do to him. I barely did!" He stopped talking when he realized what he'd let slip in front of the nosey reporter.

"Megamind, what do you mean you barely survived?" her voice had nothing but concern in it. She knew she was walking a fine line in pressing him for details now that he was facing the potential loss of his lifetime companion. She was determined to help him get his friend back alive, but she had to know how he knew what Minion was facing. She had never heard anything at all about him having ties to any place like this before.

"It's nothing, forget I said anything." He looked away from her but decided that if she pushed the issue, he would be honest with her. He had nothing to lose at that point. He felt her put a hesitant hand on his arm and turned to look into her eyes, which pled with his.

"Please tell me. I won't tell anyone, I promise. But I have to know. Please?" Her heartfelt pleas were the only prodding he needed to slowly tell her exactly what had happened that caused his distrust of the government and his extreme sense of foreboding about Minion's prospects.

He began to tell her as he sank to his knees on the ground facing the sight of Minion's silent ape body. "Before I was old enough to go to _shool_, there were some men who came to the prison. They had an agreement with someone in some State office to take me out of the prison for some testing, or so they said." He broke eye contact with her and hung his head in shame as the memories came flooding back to him. She knelt down next to him and placed her hand comfortingly on his shoulder and rubbed his back in circles. He flinched but didn't cringe away from her.

"They took me to a facility they claimed was an academic think tank when I was four. They locked me up in a square white room and did whatever they wanted to me for weeks before the warden found me and saved me from their torture." He stood and started pacing in a small circle.

"Torture?" she stood and asked with shock in her voice and on her face. He stopped pacing and walked up to her, looking into her eyes intently.

"What else would you call operating on me without my consent or any anesthetic, removing tissues and pieces of bone from my body for tests like I was some kind of animal? Like I had no right to be feeling any pain from their brutal treatment." His voice reverberated off of the metal skeleton of the robot suit they kneeled next to.

"How could they do that to a child?"

"Miss Ritchi, they intentionally broke both of my legs to see how much force it would take to snap my bones. They didn't care how old I was. They didn't regard me as a child; they considered me an alien and nothing more. Then, they tried to wipe my mind of the whole ordeal when the warden found me so there would be no memory of their abuse. Of course, they underestimated my brain, because I can still recall the entire event with perfect clarity, no matter how much I want to forget it. Their supposed mind-altering drugs merely served to place a marker in my memory of the end of the worst months of my entire existence." Tears welled up in her eyes as she realized exactly why he had decided to become the supervillain later in his life. It was the only way he could protect himself from ever being hurt like that again.

She suddenly felt the need to comfort him and threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He stiffened and did not respond. After several awkward seconds of the one-sided hug, she pulled away from him completely. He was looking at her harshly. "I didn't tell you that to make you feel sorry for me," he spat, suddenly angry with her. She looked at him with hurt written all over her face. She couldn't help but feel bad for him and the things he'd had to face at so young an age. She didn't understand the sudden turn in his mood or for that matter why he had been pushing her away since she'd kissed him that morning.

Her reply bit out more harshly than she had intended, "Well then, why did you bother with all the details?" She knew that he was under an immense amount of stress now that the people he had good reason to hate had managed to capture his best friend. She needed to make him see that she wasn't concerned for their well being simply because she needed him to get home, but given their situation, the present was not the best time for such a conversation. However, she was not going to let him push her away in the meantime.

His voice and expression were still cold when he answered her, "I told you what I did because I wanted you to see the kinds of atrocities they are capable of. You need to see how serious Minion's situation is. We have to get him out of here, there's nothing more to it."

She looked into his emerald eyes, pouring her heart into them. She realized at that moment that she cared deeply for this man. "Megamind, I understand that completely. It does not change the fact that what you faced as an innocent child was so far beyond wrong that it made my _soul_ ache for you. I don't feel sorry for you. It is in my nature to want to comfort my friend who looks like he needs it. I am sorry if that offends you," she said. He didn't miss the fact that she'd called him her friend.

She saw the anger in his eyes evaporate although the tense expression on his face didn't go away. He seemed to realize she had meant no harm and his attention focused back on his plans for rescue. That couldn't have gone any better if she'd tried. He needed to focus. They could deal with the emotions later. The tense expression fell soon too as they sat together for a long time in silence. When he finally spoke, his voice was small and tired. "Look, those bastards did absolutely unthinkable things to me back then and God only knows what they have planned for Minion. We have to save him."

This time, when she hugged him, he didn't resist her embrace. They both wanted and needed the comforting contact with each other. They each clung to the other and she rubbed his back as his hand found its way into her hair. His other hand held tightly to her waist as he buried his nose in her neck. She felt moisture on her skin next to his nose and realized his own tears had begun to flow. "We will get Minion back," she said softly but confidently. She felt him nod in their embrace but he didn't say anything in response. They stood next to the suit Megamind had constructed so his fishy friend could have the convenience of a bipedal existence, holding onto each other tightly as if the world was ending.


	9. Luck be a Lady

**a/n: They just have to keep it together. Minion needs them!**

**Oh and Holy Crow, 47 Reviews! I can't believe it, that's awesome. Thank you guys for reading and I am sooooo happy you are enjoying this. It makes it that much more fun for me to write it. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Nine: Luck be a Lady

Megamind and Roxanne were holding each other tightly, each of them seeking comfort from the other. Megamind, becuse he was still unsure how they were going to get out of this and save his best friend, if it wasn't too late already. Roxanne, because she was just worried about everything that was happening; it was almost too much to handle for her emotions. Their emotionally charged hug was interrupted when a familiar thing made its presence known to them, the red and blue lights were sights for sore eyes and most certainly just as welcome as the "Bowg" sound the little cyborg made when it nudged its creator in his side. They pulled apart as Megamind turned to greet the little thing.

"Three eighty-seven, I can't believe it!"

"Bowg!" another joined the first.

"Bowg, Bowg!" and another.

"Two thirty-six! Five twelve! They must have picked up the homing signal and came straight here." He panicked for a moment and then thought it through out loud, "I think it is safe to assume that if they had been spotted entering the truck, we would have pulled over by now. This is excellent!" He sounded kind of excited, like his plan had finally clicked. She watched as he began dishing out orders to his little pets. "Two thirty-six, send a signal to Two forty through Three ten and have them come to your position. I need you all to take the suit back to the lair. Understand?"

"Bowg."

"Good. Go. Wait!" He had an idea suddenly and wanted to be sure it got put in with the original orders. The Brainbots tended to get confused when their orders were changed mid-plan, although they did their best. He needed perfection of clarity in this plan and could not afford mistakes.

"Bowg?"

"The pack needs to wait for my signal before they come take the suit away. Clear?"

"Bowg."

"Ok, transmit," he instructed. The bot obeyed immediately and soared off to transmit its orders to the group of Brainbots it was responsible for. "Three eighty-seven!" he called to another of the bots. Roxanne wondered momentarily how he was able to keep them all straight in his head. They all looked alike to her. But, she supposed it was like a mother with twins who couldn't understand how people couldn't tell her babies apart. He continued giving the bot instructions, "I need you to locate Minion's bio-signs. Link back to the computer at the Lair and download his bio-sign profile to make sure you are scanning for the right being. Report to me immediately when you find him. Understand?"

"Bowg."

"Go." The little bot immediately took off on its assignment. "Five twelve, you stay with us in case we need to communicate with the rest of the Brainbots. Understand?"

"Bowg, bowg," replied the little bot who began to hover overhead, its red eyestalk sweeping back and forth watching for potential dangers, not that there would be any under the tarp that the two of them hadn't spotted already. It did make her feel immensely better when she saw the now focused and determined look on his face.

"You have a plan now don't you?" she asked him, sure she already knew the answer.

"Sort of. It really depends on where they are keeping Minion." And whether they've done anything to harm him since he was captured. The fact that he wasn't in the flatbed was encouraging because there was not enough room in either of the other vehicles to do much in the way of experiments. He didn't really know what he was going to do once he found out where Minion was, but he was used to winging it. All he did know was that if those humans had harmed one scale on his body, there would be hell to pay.

"What can I do to help?" She still stood close by him and put her hand on his arm. She wanted desperately to help. She knew that Minion was Megamind's closest and best friend, almost his big brother, despite their apparent master-servant relationship. She didn't want to see anything bad happen to the fish any more than she did the blue man standing next to her.

"Right now, nothing. We have to let the Brainbots work and wait until we stop at the base they are taking us to before we can really do anything. It's too dangerous to do something now, and especially since we don't know where they are keeping Minion. We will have more information when we do move into action because of the Brainbots," he felt like he was back in control, if only marginally more than he was before. His pet creations were always handy in a pinch and he knew they would help tremendously.

"Where are we going, anyway? You said earlier that you knew."

He looked at her solemnly again, and she was tired of seeing that look on his face, it was never a good thing and it always made her heart wrench in her chest. "You do remember that story I told you earlier, right?"

"How could I forget?" she asked rhetorically with a furrowed brow.

"Well. We are going to that very same facility. It's the most famous secret military base in southern Nevada," he hoped she would guess so he wouldn't have to say the name. He loathed this place more than any other in the entire world, including the ridiculously painted jail cell they kept him in when he was incarcerated. Her eyes went wide with recognition.

"Area 51? Really?" She'd of course heard of the legendary mlitary base, but she never imagined she would ever go there. It was a reporter's dream, but she knew she would not have any time to do any fact finding or investigating while they were there. They had a far more important mission to complete. He nodded slowly to confirm her guess. She was stunned into silence after that, not believing the string of events that had led her to this moment and this outcome. She was still outraged at the story he had told her of his childhood run-in at this location and now they were willingly going back in there. Granted, it was for a worthwhile cause, but it didn't make her feel any better or more confident about their future.

She suddenly felt overwhelmed by the weight of their situation and the need to sit down overcame her, so she moved away from him to find some place to do just that. She walked to the robot suit and found a smooth wide piece of black lacquered metal that was bent out when the suit had crashed into the ground, which provided just the right stable surface to sit on and lean against. She made her way to the spot and sank down to sit on her convenient perch, noticing that it was more than big enough for two. She rested her back against the metal covering of his robot and her knees involuntarily came up toward her chest. Her arms wrapped around them tightly. She stayed in her upright fetal position until he joined her sitting on the robot's destroyed armor.

He didn't sit down directly next to her, still feeling awkward about their earlier encounter, but he did sit by her. He'd never been truly able to resist her no matter their situation. She scooted closer to him and put her head on his shoulder, seeking comfort from the only person there, not that she would have wanted it from anyone else. He slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, letting her melt into his side. He then rested his head against hers. For a long while, she relaxed against him and allowed herself to forget about their problems. He used the time to think about what they were going to do next, scenarios of what could possibly happen once they stopped and ways to make sure they all survived this ordeal.

They stayed in that position until a Brainbot suddenly appeared. The bot descended to their location and bowg'd in greeting. Megamind sat up and dropped his arm from her shoulders.

"Three eighty-seven! Did you find Minion?"

"Bowg," it said affirmatively.

"Report!" Megamind exclaimed enthusiastically. The Brainbot let out a stream of noises that Roxanne had no hope of understanding. Her blue companion seemed to understand every noise it made, however and once the report was finished, he nodded and then gave the bot its new orders. "Take up a guard position near us and once we reach the final destination of these vehicles, wait exactly twenty minutes and then execute command, 'Mayhem.' Understood?"

"Bowg," the bot said and floated off to assume its guard position. There was no telling how long they still had left in their travel.

"What did he say about Minion? And what is command Mayhem?" Roxanne asked quickly once the Brainbot had departed.

"They have him confined in a small tank of water in the back of one of the other vehicles," his voice and mood darkened as he kept talking. "He was not apparently moving in the water, but Three eighty-seven was able to pick up life signs from him. They must have him sedated. And, Mayhem comes later. You'll see." She felt him relax against their make-shift bench somewhat as he came to terms with the knowledge that his best friend was still alive. They were not too late to save him. Now, all they had to do was wait for the journey to be over. The trucks had not stopped moving since they'd jumped on board and he hoped that meant they were close to their destination. He felt her arms wrap around his middle as she settled against his shoulder, apparently tired from their already long day. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her back. It was not long before he heard the quiet noise of her gentle snore. He kept his secure hold on her and laid his head back against the smooth metal to prepare himself for the coming battle.


	10. Into Action

**a/n: This chapter actually caused me personal anguish because I had to leave my computer in the middle of writing it to make dinner and the whole time I was antsy and I kept worrying about the characters and their situation. My husband thought I had lost my mind! I think you'll see why, though. I hope you like it!**

*******RATED T: A little strong language ahead.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Ten: Into Action

She awoke to the insistent feeling of someone shaking her shoulder. "Miss Ritchi. Miss Ritchi!" The shaking continued and she finally opened her eyes to see the concerned blue face from her dream looking at her with urgency in his expression. "Miss Ritchi, wake up!" Her eyes opened wider as she remembered the dire situation they were in. "We've stopped. The truck's engine is off." That got her attention and she was instantly wide awake. She stood up and quickly stretched her muscles.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked at a normal volume.

"Sshhh," he shushed her, and then whispered, "The plan is simple. We are going to go get Minion and bring him back here so we can put him in his mechanical body. He is in the front vehicle and from what I have overheard, the men who were driving these vehicles appear to have moved away from the area." He stopped for a moment as he had a thought and then said in a stage whisper, "Five twelve, contact Three eighty-seven and find out our location."

"Bowg," she heard from overhead, though the sound was much quieter than she was used to hearing. Seconds later, she heard the Brainbot quietly making its reporting sounds that Megamind seemed to understand. They were indeed inside the base although the hangar door had yet to be closed on the large building in which the truck was parked, so they still had an escape route. Megamind made his way to the edge of the tarp covering the robot suit. Careful to not move too much so as to avoid being spotted, he lifted the edge and eased an eye out of their cover to see if there was anyone nearby who would see them if they left their current location. They were lucky that the area seemed to be deserted. He turned and motioned for Roxanne and the Brainbot to follow as he slipped out of the side of the cover. She followed suit and held the tarp up long enough for the little bot to squeeze through the opening.

The two smaller vehicles that had been part of their convoy were parked immediately in front of the larger truck. They crept low along the line of trucks until they reached the one that the Brainbot had reported contained Minion. Megamind peeked up and through the window. He saw Minion in the ridiculously tiny glass cube, sitting on the bottom of the tank, his fins flapping slowly and his eyes closed. Megamind sighed in relief as he was close enough now to reach his friend. He was about to open the door to reach in to get his long time partner out of his watery cage when he heard someone approaching. Having no choice, Roxanne, Five twelve and he had to hide to avoid detection or risk being captured themselves. If that happened, they would never be able to save Minion. The crept quickly to a nearby stack of plastic crates, hiding completely behind them out of sight of the apporaching humans. Unfortunately, they also cut off their own view of the truck.

"…trying for years to get our hands on him. What a stroke of luck, General Sayer!" a gruff masculine voice said, becoming increasingly louder as two sets of boots approached the area and presumably, the vehicle where Minion was being held.

"Yes, Jenkins, it was, wasn't it? We would have only been luckier if his blue counterpart had been among the wreckage as well. Still, this was quite a find," the more refined sound of the General's voice replied. Silence seemed to stretch on and onBefore they heard the sound of the boots walking away, Roxanne felt Five twelve start to push against her, the little bot smart enough to realize it shouldn't make any noise. It became more insistent until she looked at it. The eyestalk blinked and motioned toward the vehicle they could no longer see because of their hiding location. She nodded and risked a brief glance back in that direction. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Megamind and Roxanne stayed silent and hidden until the two men moved off away from the small truck.

Once the men had walked off, the trio made their way back to the vehicle. As they approached, Megamind made his way to the rear door and opened it quickly. "Dammit!" He stopped suddenly and Roxanne saw his fists ball up and his ears turn a bright fuchsia color as he shook visibly. He turned around and looked at her, the anger he was feeling was evident all over his face. "He's gone!" he growled angrily, the quietness of his voice taking nothing away from the intensity.

"No!" she couldn't help the harsh whisper that blurted out of her lips. She was too worried about the situation to remember to be afraid of his rage. It quickly turned into determination anyway so there was really no reason for her to be afraid.

"Five twelve, download Minion's bio-sign profile from Three eighty-seven." They stayed concealed behind the truck. Megamind spotted an office in the distance where a number of uniformed people seemed to be congregating.

"Bowg," it acknowledged the command. It then made the noise that Roxanne had come to associate with their communications system, and after a few seconds passed, it gave another affirmative noise to signal it had finished the task. Five twelve seemed to understand again that silence was golden.

"Good. Now, I need you to locate Minion for me and then come tell me where he is. You must not be seen!"

"Bowg!" the little bot flew off suddenly, seeming to know exactly where it was going.

Megamind watched the cyborg leave and slumped down against the dirty truck. He sighed heavily, "If anything happens to him, I will never forgive myself." She looked at him. He looked defeated again. She again felt the urge to comfort him as much as she could.

"We'll find him, don't worry," her words sounded hollow to her own ears. She knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eyes. He seemed so lost again. Her butt landed on her heels as she finished crouching down and she placed her hands on his forearms reassuringly but he moved and her hands fell away.

"I protected him from this place the last time," he said quietly so only she could hear him. "They wanted both of us, but I hid Minion when they came for me, so that he was left at the prison while they took me here. They've never been able to get their hands on him before now," he sniffed loudly and held his head in his hands, looking very small to her. "I guess when they were investigating the 'crashed UFO,' no doubt reported by some helpful citizens of Nevada, these jackals met with Minion who had come to investigate the same thing. Only Minion was there looking for me. Oh God, if he gets hurt or worse, I don't know what I'll do. He's extremely vulnerable outside of the habitat that I constructed for him. That's why he's never outside of it."

Roxanne hardly knew what to say to him. She had never seen him like this before and it scared her to the core. She was about to open her mouth to say something she thought might help him feel better when Five twelve returned to their location.

"Bowg, bowg!"

"You located him?"

"Bowg." The bot bobbed excitedly in the air in front of its master until he sprung to his feet.

"Lead the way, we have no time to lose!" As they both ran after the little glowing cyborg, they began to realize it had taken the command to not be seen quite literally. First it darted behind a large pile of crates that blocked a view of their location from the large window of the office where the various military personnel were gathered. It halted as one of the people turned to look out the window at their tarp covered treasure.

Megamind and Roxanne were kneeling down behind the crates, her close behind him with her hand on his back so she could keep a watch and still know when he moved. It also comforted her to feel his warm body there next to her. He peeked an eye over the crate and immediately wished he hadn't, if only because he didn't need any more reasons to want these sadistic scoundrels dead. The smirk on the fat man's face was enough to send him into a boiling rage. "Bastard," Roxanne heard him hiss under his breath. He was a villain, but these so called human beings could be the cruelest and most vicious people he had ever had the misfortune to meet.

"Megamind," she whispered harshly as she felt the taut muscles in his back tense further while he was watching the people in the small office. His ears turned fuchsia again. She had to redirect his attention to the very important task at hand. She knew they could not afford a distraction. His head snapped to face her direction. "Focus." It was all she had to say to get him back on track. At that moment, Five twelve nudged its creator in the side with its dome to indicate the time had come to get moving.

"Okay, I get it. Let's go." The humans in the office were all distracted looking away from the window again, so they made a break for it, following the floating Brainbot. It opened several doors somehow, she didn't see what it did, and eventually led them down a long empty hallway to a heavy door. Megamind pushed the door open after the bot had made it open and they found the portal led to a stark white corridor lined with more doors, each of which had a small window and no door handles. The only way to open these doors appeared to be with a security card. The Brainbot flew down the corridor until it reached one door and stopped, hovering near the small window, its eyestalk pointed in their direction. They both ran for the door as fast as their legs could carry them. Megamind's momentum sent him crashing into the door as he reached it and Roxanne very nearly tripped over him when she arrived just on his heels.

They both looked into the small window and saw the even smaller form of Minion inside, resting on the bottom of a larger tank than he had been in previously. He was still not moving his body and his eyes were closed, his fins moving weakly in the small amount of current being created by the primitive water filtration system they had hooked to the tank. Megamind tore his eyes away from his helpless friend on the other side of the glass and said, "Five twelve, unlock the door." Roxanne's eyes widened as she watched the cyborg float forward and extended one of its tendrils, inserting the end into the card slot. It made the transmission noise for a few seconds and then amazingly she heard a click as the door opened. So that's how they had been moving through the halls. No wonder he was good at escaping!

Megamind was at his friend's side in an instant once the door was no longer an obstacle. He looked around and found the square glass box they had used to transport him from the car. He pointed to it, "Miss Ritchi, can you please get that box and put it in the tank next to Minion?" She nodded and he took a moment to unbuckle and remove his gloves as he positioned himself in front of his friend's prone form.

Roxanne appeared next to him and he was slightly startled at the determined look on her face as she gently submerged the box in the tank, being sure the water filled the box without disturbing the sleeping fish lying so close nearby. She was extremely worried about his little friend as they both worked to save him from whatever awaited him at the hands of his captors. Five twelve grabbed its' Daddy's gloves after they were discarded like it was programmed to do and silently assumed a watch position in the doorway, looking down the hall for any sign of trouble.

Inside the room, Megamind was just sinking his hands into the water and wrapping his fingers carefully around the completely still form of his normally animated best friend. He picked the small still creature up from the bottom of the tank. It was not necessary to remove him from the water to move his body into the smaller square tank for transport. He placed his friend down carefully so he did not injure the fish any further than he already was. It was excessively hard to tell when Minion was hurt just by looking at him.

He looked to the woman standing next to him, "Can you help me get the box out of the water? My hands are slippery from handling him." She nodded and grabbed the box, lifting it out of the larger tank. Minion still didn't move and it occurred to Megamind belatedly that they probably put the sedatives in the water so he was constantly taking them into his system. With his incredibly fast metabolism, simply injecting him would have not worked for long enough to have been effective. As Roxanne lifted the small glass box free from the larger one, he wiped his hands on his suit again and motioned for her to hand the box to him. She did so immediately and he tipped a bit of the water back into the larger tank before turning back to her and saying, "Okay, let's get out of here. We need to get back to his suit."

She nodded and they made for the door, the Brainbot still standing sentry. She noticed Minion had still not moved despite the gyrations he must be feeling under the water and could not stop herself from asking, "Is he okay?"

"He's still heavily sedated. They put something in the water to keep him that way. They probably shocked his system by just dropping him in the unfamiliar water, too." He peeked out first and saw that the coast was clear before emerging fully into the hallway followed by his other two companions. They all made their way back out of the white hall and along their previous path, running toward the hangar before they heard the alarm claxons begin to sound. The two bipeds ran as fast as their legs could carry them and the Brainbot zoomed ahead. Roxanne's legs groaned in protest and she felt cramps building in them but she ignored her pain and pushed forward. They managed to get all the way back to the hangar and onto the bed of the truck without being spotted.

**a/n: We are not out of this yet, dear readers. Minion is OK and everybody is safe - for now, but how will they get out of that place? And what about that alarm? Things that make you go, "Hmmm..."**


	11. A New Plan

**a/n: It's time we figure out how to blow this popsicle stand! As always, please let me know what you think, it makes my muse happy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Eleven: A New Plan

Megamind immediately went to Minion's body and removed the lid containing the rotating top with the twist only he knew how to do. Unfortunately, the humans had found the release button for the dome and all the water had drained out of the habitat when they'd captured the fish. They would have to use the water that was treated with the sedatives. They didn't have any other options and they were running short of time. "Miss Ritchi, I need your assistance." He pushed the release button on the suit to re-seal the tank to the habitat body and moved to set the glass box that held his lifelong companion down on the shelf next to the gorilla body.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked as soon as she stepped up to his side.

"I am going to hold Minion. I need you to pour the water from the box into his dome."

She nodded and he reached into the glass box again, this time removing Minion from the water entirely. She grabbed the box and then looked troubled, "Isn't the water polluted with sedatives? Wouldn't that be just as bad for him?"

"The filtration system in the suit will remove all of the chemicals from the water. I designed it to be able to use any water no matter how dirty it is. Please, just do it, Miss Ritchi!" She did as she was told. The water filled most of the dome up, but did not reach the top. She looked at him with concern. "It'll be fine. He will be ok until we can get it filled up the rest of the way," he explained as he stretched his arms to the hole in the top of the water tank. The suit was slightly slouched down so it was easier for him to reach it. As he gently let go of his friend, the fish floated to the bottom of the tank as his fins fluttered ever so slightly.

"Will he be ok?" Roxanne asked when she couldn't stand it anymore. He reattached the lid of the dome and stepped back.

"There is no reason to believe otherwise," he said to reassure himself as much as her. "We just have to let the suit make the water clean and it will eventually get all of the chemicals out of his system. They put a lot of sedatives in that water." His demeanor, although still focused and moving with purpose, seemed much less hysterical. The alarm still rang noisily in the background and she was still concerned about them being found.

"You seem much calmer now. Aren't you worried about that alarm?"

"Oh, that? That alarm was my little bit of Mayhem to assist our escape," he said with a sly smirk on his face.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Ohhh, good. Wait. Mayhem? You know I have to know what you did."

He smiled, "Oh, just a little distraction I set up as one of the base programs in all of my Brainbots. It's your standard bait and switch really. Three eighty-seven can project an image of me and use some of the fifty-or-so pre-recorded messages to draw the attention of the base to it, thinking it is me," he paused for effect, ever the one for presentation. She was listening with obvious interest at his ingenuity. "…on the complete other side of the compound! I know, sometimes I amaze even myself with my genius ."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and smirked as she suppressed a laugh, "Well, as long as you have everything under control…" It made her feel somewhat better to see the expression on his face again. He seemed to finally be relaxing now that Minion was no longer in the clutches of the faceless men. Now they just needed to escape from the base. No problem. Having Megamind there as her partner in this endeavor was remarkably comforting. She was well aware of his penchant for escaping seemingly inescapable situations. By the look on his face, she hoped he had a grand escape planned. He usually did things with style, even if his endeavors were woefully unsuccessful against Wayne.

"Well, not everything, Miss Ritchi, but as much as I possibly can at present. If they touch the hologram, the jig is up and we won't have any time after that, but if Three eighty-seven can evade them long enough, we should be able to get clear of here. We can't wait for the suit to finish the filtration cycle. We need to get moving now, really. The suit can take up to an hour to clean and treat the water depending on how polluted it is." He pulled his De-gun out of its holster turned the barrel to "De-hydration," took aim at only friend and pulled the trigger. He watched with mixed feelings as the suit with the unconscious fish inside was reduced to a small glowing blue cube.

After stowing the glowing blue cube inside one of the water-tight pockets in his suit, he turned to Roxanne and holstered his gun. "Let's go." She nodded and they made their way back over to the flap of tarp they had used earlier to depart the flat-bed. Once they were standing on the paved ground next to the trailer, he paused then started climbing back inside the tarp.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a panicked whisper.

"The hangar door is closed." He climbed back under the tarp, then stuck his head out and said, "Wait here a minute." He ducked back inside, "We can't get the suit out of the hangar with the door closed. I have to…" his voice became too muffled to hear as he did whatever he was doing under the tarp. After a minute of nervously shuffling hr feet and leaning down to watch under the trailer for unexpected company, she saw Five twelve zoom under the cover of the tarp. Thirty seconds later, both Megamind and the bot emerged, a satisfied smile on his face. "Okay, now let's go."

"What did you do?"

"You'll see," he smirked again. He turned and began to walk quickly toward the same stack of crates they'd hidden behind before. "Unfortunately," he whispered to her once they were both safely hidden, "since they closed the hangar door on us, we are going to have to find another way out. That damn watch would have been extremely helpful right about now."

"Wait. How would a homing device help us? Minion is here and the Brainbots already know where we are," she whispered back. He mentally smacked himself. She was really too smart for her own good. He very much did not want to tell her about the particular feature that he was thinking of because he had not had the chance to use it in a scheme and its effectiveness against anyone if they knew of its existence would be severely damaged, especially since his eyes were so recognizable. He had no doubt that she would tell everyone all about it, being the nosey reporter that she was.

She noticed his resistance in answering her question and said, "Okay, can we just say that any questions I ask and any information you give me until we are back in Metro City is off the record? Please? I really do not want to have to keep prying information out of you because you are worried about it becoming public. Reporting is what I do, not who I am. I can separate the two when I need to. Please trust me."

He considered her for a moment, wrapping his brain around what she'd said. He had never trusted anyone except for Minion. She had no idea what she was asking of him. He did realize that his personal trust issues were in the way at that moment, however, and so he conceded to her request. She'd done nothing thus far to make him doubt her intentions. "Fine. The watch has a disguise generator which can completely alter the wearer's appearance. I could have passed as one of those military people long enough to get us clear of here."

"Oh, well that is still a plausible idea," she said distractedly as she was lost in her own thoughts.

"I don't think I could pass for one of them even if I had a uniform, Miss Ritchi, but thank you for the vote of confidence."

"It's Roxanne, and no, you couldn't, but I could. Maybe not a military person since I can't mimic anyone's appearance, but a janitor is usually ignored and could move undetected through the building easily. We'd just need to find me a uniform." She finished her beginnings of a plan and he stared at her with a mix of surprise and uncertainty in his eyes.

"Well, um…Roxanne," he tried her name out quietly, "I'd really rather be the one to take any risks that need to be taken, but your plan is the best one we've got, at least for now. If I can come up with a better one, one that doesn't involve putting you in danger, we'll do that. In the meantime, we need to find you a uniform." He was still not entirely sure how his very obvious blue person was going to be able to stay concealed and escape. Had he been alone, he would have blasted his way out. He wouldn't dare risk Roxanne getting caught in the cross-fire so they had to be smarter about it. They were still crouched behind the stack of crates, but he surveyed the area in search of anything useful. He turned back around and looked at her. "It looks like there is a janitor's closet on the other side of the hangar. Maybe, if our luck changes, we will find a pair of coveralls or something like that hanging on the door."

For herself, she wasn't so sure luck was something they should put any trust in. It hadn't been a companion on their adventure thus far, and she wasn't holding her breath that it would suddenly decide to show up. Still, she nodded at him, acknowledging that she understood. They snuck around the perimeter of the room, starting on the path behind the crates they had used to rescue Minion. The hangar was extremely large, almost two football-fields in width. It took them several minutes to creep across the cavernous room. The hangar doors being closed made it seem like they were in a cave. Fortunately, there was no ambient light in the area, only task lighting in certain areas, and there were no windows, so the darkness aided in their desire to remain unseen.

Roxanne reached the door first. The placard declared that what lay on the other side was "Janitorial Supplies." She reached down to open the door. When she didn't feel a handle to turn, she looked down and saw the same receptacle blinking at her as had been on Minion's cell's door. She huffed, "Seriously? What, are they afraid someone will come abduct their toilet paper?" She heard Megamind chuckle behind her and turned to face him as he instructed Five twelve to work its magic on the key reader.


	12. A Real Hero

**a/n: Roxanne's plan is a good one but she has no idea what she's gotten herself into.**

****Thank you to Silverwolf01 for letting me know the post last night didn't work! I hope you all enjoy… On with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twelve: A Real Hero

As the door swung open on its hinges they both held their breath hoping to see the coveted article of clothing. It seemed Fate was on their side for once because there was indeed a dirty pair of black denim coveralls hanging on the back of the door. The patch on the breast read, "Jackson." Megamind reached up and took the garment off of its hanger, handing it to Roxanne. She took it and immediately started to undo the zipper, noticing that both of them could have fit inside the darn thing. She stepped into the too-large legs one at a time, put her arms through the generously cut sleeves and situated the ugly thing on her shoulders before zipping the suit up. She then removed the hat from the hook above the one the uniform had been hanging from and placed it on her head. It covered almost all of her hair and most of her forehead. She looked at her companion. He appeared to be examining the contents of the closet.

"How do I look?" she asked to gain his attention.

He turned and looked at her and gave her a small smile but didn't answer her even though the part of his brain that was always engaged in thinking about her thought that she looked adorable in the too-large clothing, especially with the hat. In the bulk of this mind that was focused on their predicament, he heard Minion's usual reply to that question. It made him frown sadly. He always did know just the right thing to say.

After a moment, his frown relaxed and he said, "I think I figured out the rest of your plan. You'll blend in dressed like that, but if they see me, it's over. They will pull out all the stops to regain their possession of Minion and me as well. I shudder to think about what would happen then, so we will do everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen." He removed the small cube containing his life-long friend from its pocket and handed it to her. She took it and held it gingerly, looking to him with confusion etched on her face. As he un-holstered his weapon, her eyes went wide as she figured out what he was doing. "I need you to dehydrate me."

"How is that going to help? I can't get out of here by myself!"

"You won't be by yourself. Five twelve is here and it knows the way out, you just have to follow. It will protect you, Roxanne," he said with a reassuring smile on his face as he held the gun out to her. She looked at it and back at his face. She did not like this plan anymore, but she realized it may be their only hope. It occurred to her as he held the weapon out to her that he was trusting her completely with this. The significance of that was not lost on her. As she reached forward and placed her hand on the gun, he gave her a sheepish smile. He wasn't crazy about the idea of being dehydrated or incapacitated in any way for that matter, but she could tell that he was putting his own discomfort on hold for the greater goal of getting them all out of there alive. "Wait! Do you understand how to re-hydrate my dehydrated cubes?"

She rolled her eyes. Really? "Yes, I think so. You have to get it wet, right?"

"Yes, but you don't have to douse it. One drop will do. Just don't waste the water, ok?" he explained and she nodded, realizing he was not trying to be condescending by asking the question, and committing the knowledge to her memory.

She situated the gun in her hand and examined it, having never been able to do so before. It was actually quite beautiful for being a weapon that he'd created. Most of those were covered in spikes with no artistry. But this had taken a delicate hand and craftsman's eye. She was impressed but now was not the time for that. Feeling nervous about the idea that it would be almost entirely up to her to get them out of there safely, she had to convince herself that she was completely up to the task. She took aim at his chest with his own weapon and he stood perfectly still, eyes closed, waiting for her to pull the trigger. Just before she did, she suddenly stepped forward and planted a soft closed-lipped kiss on his unprepared lips. His eyes flew open, meeting hers. "For luck," she explained as she stepped back, smiled at him, aimed again and pulled the trigger. The surprise on his face and blush on his cheeks was preserved in suspended animation as his form was reduced to the same glowing blue cube as Minion's, she felt a lingering tingle on her lips.

She bent down and picked up the cube, looking down at it wistfully. Well, this was certainly a change. She had effectively captured both Megamind and Minion and had them both at her mercy. She could do whatever she wanted to him! She could take revenge for all those years of kidnappings and uncomfortable situations. She could turn him in to the military and never have to worry about being kidnapped ever again. Her heart wrenched in her chest as she had that thought. She would no sooner do that to him than she would any other person she knew. He did not deserve that, no matter how obnoxious he was some days. Besides, if she did that, how would she ever find out what was going to happen between the two of them? She wanted to see where things went now that she'd made a move on him that stirred up their long-ignored feelings. She stowed the two cubes and the De-gun on her person underneath the coveralls. The cubes in each pocket of her jeans, Megamind in the left and Minion in the right, and the De-gun tucked in her waistline after making sure the safety was on. She put her arms back through the sleeves of the suit and said, "Okay, Five twelve, lead the way."

"Bowg," said the little bot as it flew off to a door she hadn't seen on the back wall. It stopped and waited for her, hovering below waist level, its blue light dimmed to the point of almost being extinguished. It turned its eyestalk toward her as she arrived behind it. The door was, of course, protected with a keycard reader. The Brainbot opened the door with ease. On the other side of the door, she was met with darkness, the only light coming from the dimmed Brainbot and the hangar. The door closed with a solid bang as the self-retracting hydraulic mechanism did its job. She heard the sound echo in the hollow chamber they were standing in. She still couldn't see two feet in front of her face but it felt much smaller than the hangar.

Her hands grabbed air a few times as she shuffled her feet back toward the door. Finding the smooth surface with her hand, she immediately began to grope in the direction she hoped was the nearest wall. Concentrating on finding her way, she was startled when a bright light floated into her peripheral vision. She put her hand over her heart as she leaned against the wall for support and turned her head to see the now-brightly illuminated Brainbot in front of her. It floated up and away only a little until she moved away from the door to follow, then it moved more quickly down the hallway. The light from the bot illuminated the walls which didn't want to be so, as they were all painted a matte black. She saw the small light reflect on the same kind of small windows that had been in the wing they had rescued Minion from.

Her curiosity got the better of her and her pace slowed to a crawl and then she stopped in front of one of the reflections. She carefully approached the window and peeked inside. She was not surprised to see nothing but darkness. After a moment, however, a soft glow became apparent in one corner of the cell. She saw the unfocused orange glow-orb-thing move quickly to the other side of its cell, seeming to stick to or hover near the ceiling, she couldn't tell which. Its shape was undefined and not symmetrical, seeming to be a sentient neon cloud. It moved around a little in the area of the ceiling it was occupying. Enthralled, she kept watching the creature, despite the constant nudging at her side from Five twelve. She knew their situation was time-sensitive, but she just couldn't pull herself away.

She saw the orb fall away from the ceiling and disappear. She gasped, despite herself and stood on her toes to look through the window at a better angle. It seemed to have just vanished and she was intent upon finding it. She kept looking until she felt the sharp sting of an electrical current at her hip. The shock made her jump away from the door. It was brief but it certainly got her attention away from the – whatever it was. The bot pulled away from her after shocking her with its arc-welder, moving back down their course along the hallway. She took the hint and followed without looking back in the window. The bot moved faster and, realizing that she was not likely to trip over anything, she started to run faster behind it. The corridor was long but they reached the end shortly after the encounter. She would have to tell Megamind about that one when he was rehydrated.

She felt them pass through several doors as Five twelve paused only briefly to expertly unlock each one before proceeding rapidly past the quiet beeping of the card reader; room after room just as dark as the one before it. The final door was opened in a matter of seconds as her little pal did its job and she was met with light. She was beginning to see why Megamind had made these little bots. They were extremely useful. She eased an eye out the door, holding it open with her foot.

The hallway outside was bright and stark compared to the one she was in, but it looked like it lead to only one door at the other end of a long stretch of empty space. She didn't think it would be wise to box herself in and turned to question Five twelve about its chosen route when the bot zoomed past her and right through the door at the other end of the hallway, which was apparently closer to them than it looked? She took a deep breath and stepped out of the black hallway, allowing the door to close behind her. She kept walking and felt her breath catch in her throat when she stepped through the image of the door and long hallway. She stumbled a bit as the ground seemed to fall away at an angle beneath her feet.

The scene in front of her looked very similar to the one in the hologram, except there was no door, only a long path of concrete that sloped down and away from her bordered by concrete walls about six feet apart. The bot kept moving forward and down the hall, so she followed. She kept her eyes on the ground as she walked down the unfamiliar ramp. The last thing she needed to do was trip and knock herself unconscious. Although, she supposed that Five twelve could just shock her again to wake her up. Another thing she would have to ask Megamind about when he was back with her. The loose coveralls began to become a major hindrance to her movement and she knew she couldn't take them off just yet since they were still inside the facility. She stopped their progress once again and knelt down to cuff her left pants leg, something she should have done from the beginning. She rolled her eyes at her own lack of thoughtfulness as she repeated the process on her right leg. When she had finished, she stood up, made sure the hat was situated on her head and said, "Okay, let's go."


	13. Flight

**a/n: Little bit shorter this time, sorry about that, but I think you'll like where this one goes. :) And I apologize to those who experienced issues with the post of Chapter 12. I am not certain what exactly happened, but I hope they have resolved the issue now. Anyway, here we go...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Thirteen: Flight

Five twelve resumed its course and she was able to follow more quickly without the overlarge uniform in the way of her feet. She was able to use her arms to help keep her balance as well since she didn't have to hold anything with her hands now. Their progress was quick and downhill for several more minutes before there was any cause for concern. She felt it before she heard anything. A low rumbling in the floor under her feet followed by what sounded like castors moving across the floor caused her to pause her progress to turn her head and look back up the shaft she had been descending. A large object was approaching at an alarming pace down the incline. There was no way it was not going to hit her. Her only option…

She took off running down the slope as fast as her feet would move, Five twelve moving even faster to stay in front of her. She was doubly glad that she had taken the time to cuff the uniform pants. She didn't dare risk looking back again to see the object, but she could hear that it was closer than it had been before; its heavy mass causing it to descend more rapidly than her feet could move. She could feel the temperature in the shaft growing swiftly hotter as she kept running, sweat beginning to drip down her face. She saw a glow that looked an awful lot like a fire starting to appear at the bottom. She finally reached the flat bottom and almost fell as she spun around the sudden corner that the Brainbot led her to. She braced herself against the wall to catch her breath. Seconds later, three square black canisters that were only slightly smaller than the tunnel flew past the opening she was stanting in and she leaned forward enough to see where it ended – a super-sized industrial incinerator. No wonder this shaft wasn't monitored. It was a garbage dump!

She took a few deep breaths of the thick hot air and then turned to follow the Brainbot. The short hallway it led her down was dark and muggy and ended abruptly with a blank wall upon which was affixed a rusty steel ladder. She looked up and, about five stories up at the end of a tunnel she saw a bright glow that she realized was Five twelve floating near what appeared to be a man-hole cover. She thought wryly that it would make perfect sense to have a maintenance shaft closer to the action rather than have to trek all the way up and down that ramp every time something malfunctions in that monster. She started to climb up the ladder immediately, eager to get away from the oppressive heat in the tunnel. Rung after rung she climbed; it seemed to take forever to reach the top, but when she finally did, she pushed on the circular hole-cover. It was pretty heavy, which gave her the cautious advantage of lifting it slowly despite having put all of her strength into the push.

Roxanne poked her head up. She appeared to be outside on the grounds of the base. The sun was just setting and she could see buildings in the distance and a fence nearby. She noticed that there was no security light on in this area yet. She pushed the cover off and the bot emerged, its light almost off again. These things were much smarter than she'd given them credit for. She'd be sure to tell Megamind that when he was with her again. Once she was out of the hole, she took the time to replace the cover, not wanting to leave any clues as to her actual escape route. Following the bot to the fence, she debated pulling out the De-gun and blasting their way through, but they had made it this far without attracting any attention. She decided to allow Five twelve to carry out its orders and, using its arc-welder, it cut through the chain-link fence one cluster at a time until there was a space big enough for Roxanne to fit under.

She got down on the ground and started to make her way through the hole, her somach flat on the ground. The hat fell off her head as she worked her way through the fence. The stupid janitor uniform got caught completely in the cut ends of the almost too small hole. The fabric bunched up as she tried to pull herself through. It wasn't coming. She quickly relaxed enough to get one arm out of the sleeve and pushed the zipper down from the inside. She then used that free hand to pull herself through the hole and out of the suit. Stopping to make sure she still had both cubes and the gun, she turned back to the bot and motioned for it to lead the way. It floated off toward the mountainous region to the West of the base and she followed as fast as she could now completely unhindered by the coveralls. She paused briefly as she realized the coveralls were a large clue as to where they'd gone. She quickly decided that it wasn't worth it and turned to keep following her guide.

She began to have trouble seeing the Brainbot as the sun sank further and further behind the horizon and it seemed to realize that. It lit some kind of blue flame out the bottom of its' dome. She could keep an eye on that without it being seen from overhead easily. They resumed their break-neck pace as she ran across the flat areas and did her best to climb quickly when she needed to do so. Eventually they reached a precipice. She stopped well short of the drop thanks to the helpful little bot. "Bowg."

She let a hysterical little laugh escape her lips at the sound, which seemed so strange in the total silence around them. The bot floated away from her, hovering close to the ground and she saw that the ground was sloping down. She followed Five twelve as it led her down the crest of the rock wave. As she descended, she saw the Brainbot turn back toward the way they had come, but at the bottom of the slope. It floated away from her and then its light disappeared. She gasped and stuttered in walking. "Bowg," she heard echo. She forced her feet to keep moving in the darkness in the direction they had been moving. She took several steps before she saw the little blue light again, and let out a sigh of relief.

She walked to the bot and it moved away from her back into what seemed to be a cave in the rocks. She knew the further back they went the less likely anyone would notice any light created from a fire or a glowing Brainbot. She was loathe to think what could possibly be living in this cave. The fact that she didn't hear any scurrying or flapping as they made their way back made her feel a little better, but she was still worried that it could mean something larger in the end. As they made their way through the rocky tunnel, the bot grew brighter to illuminate her surroundings. It stopped at what appeared to be a make-shift campsite with a tiny fire pit. There was no other indication that anyone had ever been here aside from the disarrayed ring of stones encircling the pile of ashes and partially burnt kindling. She looked at her companion and asked, "Could you please find something we can burn?" It made an affirmative noise and flew back down the cave tunnel, leaving her in total darkness.


	14. Recovery

**a/n: I hope you all are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it! Please let me know what you think. Longer chapter this time, so please forgive me for the last smaller one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Fourteen: Recovery

Still in the dark, Roxanne took the De-gun out of its makeshift holster in her waistband and laid it down on a rock she found near her feet where she was standing, then removed the cube from her right pocket and placed it on the stone next to the gun. Then she pulled out the cube from her left pocket, knelt down and placed it on the ground in front of her. She took the bottle of water she had pocketed earlier and, remembering what he'd said earlier, tipped it until one drop fell off of the mouth and toward the glowing cube. She stood up and watched with fascination as he popped up in front of her in the extremely dim light given off by the De-gun. He moved so quickly, she had no time to react, sweeping her up into a fierce hug, "I knew you could do it, Roxanne!"

She hugged him back but after a few seconds, he seemed to realize what he was doing and released his hold on her, stepping away. He chuckled nervously and started looking around despite the darkness. He noticed the blue cube sitting on the stone behind her and rushed forward. He picked up the De-gun putting it in the holster on his leg and, unaware that she had managed to keep one of the water bottles, did not hesitate to spit on the cube. The bulky form of Minion's gorilla body appeared instantly and she saw that the fish inside the tank was still resting on the bottom moving his fins very little. Megamind made sure the suit was propped against the cave wall so that it would not fall over while the filtration cycle completed.

When he returned to her company, she decided that there was no time like the present to hash out the issue there still seemed to exist between them. She started to talk when Five twelve reappeared with its pincers full of twigs and brambles it had gathered from who knows where. She blinked her eyes at the sudden brightness. "Ah, Five twelve. Just the bot I wanted to see. Execute command 'Goodbye!' immediately!" The bot dropped the twigs and flew back down toward the mouth of the cave, glowing brightly.

"Dare I ask, what command 'Goodbye!' is?" she looked at him with concern. He smiled broadly, his teeth glinting in the dim light, as he gathered the twigs into a pile and re-arranged the stones in a more complete circle. He reached for the De-gun and set it to De-story, making sure the intensity was set to low before firing into the center of the pile and igniting the small blaze.

"Just the final part of my plan. I can't let them have my technology, Roxanne. And, they sealed it inside their hangar. They drew this upon themselves!" His mischievous grin made her nervous and she moved closer to him and put her hand on his arm, just to see if she could get him to spill the beans. He did so happily. "I rigged the self-destruct on the suit to be triggered remotely by Five twelve. It should be blowing up any second-" They heard the loud concussion of an explosion in the distance echoing off the cave walls. He laughed heartily and evilly and she really couldn't blame him. "Yes, that should keep them busy long enough for us to get out of here and to safety. I suspect the invisible car is parked back at the suit crash site. The Brainbots should be able to get us there without much trouble, since we have so many of them now just waiting on standby. We just need to wait until Minion is awake before we go anywhere."

She nodded to him. She was comforted by the plan that sounded like she just might be back in her bed in a few days instead of the several weeks she thought it was going to take. "Good, I was beginning to wonder if you had figured out what to do next. I had no doubt that you would," she said to him and looked at him with sincerity.

He gaped at her, "Really?"

"Of course. Aside from the suit malfunction, the only thing I have ever seen you fail at is beating Metro Man. You do know he's invincible, right?" she playfully jabbed at him with her words.

He snorted. "That's just what he wants everyone to think. He has to have a weakness. Everyone does."

"Do you? What's yours?"

He stared at her again, wide eyed. Agitated at the topic and not thinking completely clearly, he didn't realize he was speaking until it was too late, "You." He heard the word escape his lips and clamped his hand over his mouth as fast as he could, but the damage had been done.

"What?"

"Uhh…my uh…my fondness for kidnapping you." His brain worked a mile a second normally, but it seemed muddled and cloudy when she was so near and talking to him about such personal things. He was nervous too which was already not helping him to think clearly. Her proximity was just the icing on the proverbial cake. She was starting to look displeased and he desperately wanted to fix the hole he had dug for himself. "Um. You're Metro Man's girlfriend and that's why everyone thinks I kidnap you, but the real reason is that I," he hesitated, trying to find the right words, "like you-r company." She caught his slip and smiled at him before he continued, "It's a weakness because you distract me. Minion has said as much at least."

"Oh, I understand," she said and he looked in her eyes with an expression of shock on his face. She understood? She didn't seem upset anymore either. Something was going on here. She roused him out of his suspicious thoughts when she spoke again, "We need to discuss a few things, Megamind."

"Okay?" he said nervously.

She laughed. It made him feel a little better that she was not being somber about whatever she wanted to talk to him about. He turned and found a relatively clean spot on the ground, sitting down to make himself more comfortable for what he was sure was going to be an uncomfortable conversation. He leaned against a convenient rock and crossed his legs at the ankles. Crossing his arms across his chest, he looked at her. She had settled down and was sitting with her legs crossed and her knees resting on the opposite feet. He'd never sat that way before, but it looked comfortable.

"I think I need to clarify something." His expression grew worried again. She just smiled. "I am not Metro Man's girlfriend. Never have been, never will be. He's not my type." The worry changed to confusion.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I prefer men who have more intellect than muscles. He's my friend and nothing more." She hoped he'd caught the meaning of what she'd said, but he didn't. He just kept looking at her with confusion all over his face. She decided to continue on to a different topic and let her hope rest on his understanding what she'd said eventually, even if she had to spell it out for him, which she probably would. After several moments of thick silence, she spoke, "Tell me where Five twelve came up with that escape route."

"Oh," he started and then lapsed into silence. She again placed her hand on his arm and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Reluctantly, he told her, "Well, you of course remember the story I told you earlier about my experience with these people, I am sure. There's more to it. I tried to escape from this place about a month after they brought me here. I could tell nothing good was going to come of my stay, so I broke free and made a run for it."

"And that was the route you took?" she guessed.

"Correct. Well, they found me wandering in the desert after less than 36 hours, lost. They took me back, locked me up and made sure I wouldn't think to try something like that again. That's when they experimented on my legs. It took weeks for them to heal, and all the while, I was completely at their mercy, which was not forthcoming, I assure you." She stared at him wide eyed again, furious all over at the horror he had dealt with at such a young age.

"Oh, there was something I wanted to ask you about that I encountered in our escape. There was this weird orange glow thing that I saw in the dark hallway. I got really sidetracked and Five twelve had to make me move away from it. Do you know what it was?"

He gaped at her. "You were lucky Five twelve was there or you would still be standing there staring at that Night Stalker, or so it's called by them. That thing has a very powerful psychic ability to lull its victims into submission. Had it been out of its cell, you would be dead. I was almost dead after my one encounter with the thing," as her eyes went wide, he knew she was going to ask him to explain, so he continued his story. "Shortly after they brought me here, I figured out that they were not going to teach me anything and I stopped cooperating with them. They punished me by pitting me against that thing, in total darkness."

Roxanne gasped.

"All I could see was that orange glowing thing and a reflection of it on the walls, from the two-way mirrors they were standing behind to watch the slaughter they'd intended. I could hear them laughing at me. I was terrified but my brain was able to resist its psychic ability. That just served to make it angrier and it lashed out at me in every way it could, cutting me – to the bone in some places, bruising me and fracturing my arm. I was finally able to hide from it long enough that the humans became tired of their game and took us both back to our cells. They took an X-ray to see if my arm was fractured or broken. Other than that, I received no medical attention." His voice was dark as he finished telling the tale of yet another mistreatment he'd suffered. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was turned down in a sharp frown.

"They decided to see how fast I would heal on my own. My body was hindered by the poison the creature had left in the wounds so it took much longer for me to heal than it normally would have. A human would have been incapacitated by the poison and certainly died, but I was only in pain. That's when I decided to escape. It took a few weeks to find the route and plan it all, but I eventually did manage to leave." She leaned forward and placed her near hand on his far shoulder, looking into his eyes after he stopped talking. For a moment, they sat in silence looking into each other's soul.

"Sir?" the weak voice intruded upon the quiet. Instantly Megamind shot up and moved away from Roxanne. He made his way to Minion's location. The fish was just starting to float in the now glowing blue water, his eyes bright and open, seeming to have no ill effects from being tranquilized aside from the grogginess of waking up.

Roxanne felt a wave of relief wash over that surprised her with its intensity. This was just the sidekick of her kidnapper wasn't it? This was the same kidnapper who had made her life an endless string of dangerous situations, and the little fish who made it possible for the most part. Why should the fish matter to her? Aside from the fact that the little guy was Megamind's henchman, he had never done anything but be polite and try to make her feel comfortable, despite his boss' intentions otherwise. She realized that she honestly liked Minion and truly cared whether he was hurt in their ordeal.

"Minion! How do you feel?" His hand hovered over Minion's robot body as it stood and the metal hand came to rest on his shoulder. The fish was animated like he always was before as he swam around in his globe. The ape-robot was still but she could tell that it was being controlled by the fish again because it wasn't slouching. She walked over to where Megamind stood and smiled at the recovered henchfish and took the blue man's hand into her own, intertwining their fingers. This was not lost on the fish but he chose not to say anything about it at present.

"Sir! Miss Ritchi! You're alive! Oh, thank Evil Heaven! When I found the crash site, it looked so horrible; I assumed you both were lost in in the crash. I am so glad I was wrong." He paused and watched the two humanoids in front of him for a moment before he asked, "Sir, if I may ask, what is the plan for getting us home? And just exactly are we getting home from?"

"Well, now that you are awake, we will summon the Brainbots that I brought here for retrieving the suit from that awful place-"

"What place, Sir?" Minion asked distractedly. Perhaps he should have asked that question first.

Megamind hesitated and looked at Roxanne before answering him. He sighed. "Area 51."

"No! They had me? No wonder they found the battle suit so fast. They probably followed it down. They were already there when I arrived on foot. I left the invisible car well clear of the crash site, so hopefully it is still there," he paused, looking at the pair of them. Megamind still did not seem to have noticed that Roxanne was holding his hand.

The blue man spoke up before Minion had a chance to say anything else, "Well, we just need to summon the Brainbots and be on our way. Make sure they know to keep low and as dark as possible so they aren't followed."

"I didn't bring any Brainbots with me to the crash site, Sir. I hadn't planned on finding enough of the suit left to recover. It was an oversight on my part, thinking back on it, and I didn't get a chance to summon any before the men in black cornered me." He hung his dome in shame. "I'm sorry, Sir." Megamind already knew that the tracking device had been disabled in the crash so the only way Minion had to find it was via their global news monitoring network, which was not the fastest way to find out about something critical.

"Minion, the Brainbots are here because I summoned them. I was trying to get the suit out of the base. That plan fell through, but they are still here." As if on cue, Five twelve zoomed up to its Daddy. Megamind greeted the bot, dropping Roxanne's hand to scratch underneath its' bear-trap jaw, "Who's a good little menacing cyborg? Yes, you are." Having just realized that he'd had to let go of her hand to pet his creation, he looked at Roxanne who was staring at him with an amused expression on her face. "Ahem. Five twelve, send out a signal to summon all nearby units to your location. Instruct them to run in silent stealth mode and keep low to the ground to avoid RADAR. Position your unit outside the mouth of the cave and await further instruction. Understand?"

"Bowg," it said before dimming its light to the level it had been when Roxanne had escaped from the facility. The light was almost grey it was so dim. It flew off down the tunnel and she returned her gaze to its creator in the firelight and considered him for several long moments before he noticed anything. He was certainly attractive to her, especially with his three days' worth of hair growth on his angular chin. It made him look dangerous, but she knew that wasn't the case at all, really. He'd never hurt her, she knew that for a fact. He'd never really tried to hurt anyone aside from the nemesis he thought he was destined to battle. And then he was so impressive when he wasn't trying to accomplish the impossible. And, man, could he kiss. Once she'd tried, she'd not been able to get enough of his lips and the intoxicating way he used them in tandem with hers. She sighed to herself audibly, causing both of the others to look at her. She gave them a small smile and her eyes lingered on the almost-man-of-her-dreams. If only he weren't a criminal. She wondered if he would ever give up the life of crime for her.


	15. On the Road Again

**a/n: We aren't home yet! This is turning into quite the little adventure. I wonder what's going to happen to our party next!**

******* RATED T: Some bits of fluffy naughtiness in here...you were forewarned!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Fifteen: On the Road Again

The Brainbots arrived and they all were picked up and carried over the hilly terrain, much closer to the ground than Roxanne's comfort level really wished. She could barely see the small cloud of bots holding up Megamind and the much larger one carrying Minion because of the wind stinging her face due to the speed they were flying, but she knew they were there. The trip was blissfully uneventful and soon she could see a large crater approaching. The area was illuminated by several large lights arranged in a circle around the impact area. The bot clouds all circumvented the area and flew a little ways away from the site. Roxanne saw a road in the distance illuminated by the moonlight. The bots made for the nearby road at Minion's direction and set them down when they arrived at the side of the paved stretch of empty highway. Once they had landed, Megamind gave a command for all of the Brainbots to return to the Lair - except for Five twelve.

"Sir," Minion whispered, "the invisible car is over this way." The light in the tank of his suit was still dim for secrecy despite their being several hundred yards away from the circle of lights. They crept around in the darkness to not draw the attention of the cleanup crew that was still scouring the distant area of the crash site for pieces of the suit and anything of interest they could find. They didn't know what kind of monitoring equipment the crew had, so secrecy was the safest option. Minion hurried toward the area he remembered he'd left the car in and the other two followed closely behind. The darkness was oppressive and the lack of a moon made it so even the tell-tale shimmer of the cloaking shield was not visible. Roxanne squinted in the darkness in an attempt to see Megamind in the darkness. It was a lost cause, so she returned her gaze to the dimly glowing dome of Minion's suit. The fish slowed its mechanical body to a walk and began looking around, groping at the air around him. Roxanne stopped walking.

"Min-yon!" Megamind whispered sharply. "You said you knew where the car was!"

"I did…I mean, I do, Sir! It's here, just one second more..." Just as he said that, Roxanne heard the distinctive screech of metal on metal. Then she heard a cough, "Found it. Heheh." She hurriedly made her way over to the glow of Minion's dome. She kept her eyes on the dome and was only marginally surprised when she saw the lighted interior of a car suddenly appear out of thin air. She knew what the invisible car was capable of, of course, but hearing about what it can do was completely different than seeing the thing work right in front of her eyes and she was again momentarily stunned by the brilliance of the blue man who thought he was evil.

Minion climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. Megamind held the door out for her and she climbed into the back seat. He set the passenger seat back upright and then climbed in next to Minion. "Given the day we've had, I think we need to find a place to stay and get a few hours of sleep before we start on the road back to Metrocity. Anyone else have a suggestion?"

"No, I'm with you. Some sleep - in a bed, and maybe even a shower would be wonderful," Roxanne agreed quickly.

"Ok, Sir. I will stop at the first motel I see." He put the pedal to the floor and took off along the long winding street he had traversed before being captured. As they traveled, Roxanne looked out the window and noticed Five twelve was flying with its light dimmed right next to Megamind's window. She heard the blue alien give a quiet order to the little bot and it flew away again.

She leaned forward from her position right behind Megamind and said, "Those Brainbots are amazing little creatures, Megamind. I have never seen anything so impressive in my life. Five twelve was a life saver more than once when we were escaping. Are they just robots or are they more than that?" His heart thumped in his chest when she said the word impressive.

He smiled to himself and only turned his head slightly when he responded, "No, they are cyborgs. They have a small portion of their design that is organic. Cloned canine brain tissue actually. But, they have artificial intelligence as well, so that makes them capable of learning and adapting."

"Well, I can certainly see why you have them around all the time. They are very handy little things. Do they always know what needs to be done in a situation?"

"For the most part. I mean, there are some situations they may not be able to decide how to handle, but yes they should. I programmed them with certain passive abilities that are always running, like the jamming signal that blocked the security cameras in the base, and certain basic rules that they must abide by all of the time, but for the most part, they do what they are told and nothing more. Why do you ask?"

"Oh well when I was um…entranced by the uh, Night Stalker, as you called it, Five twelve got my attention away from the thing by giving me a nasty shock to my hip. It hurt! It worked, of course, but it hurt a lot!"

He turned to face her then with a look of remorse on his face, "I'm so sorry, Miss Ritchi," he began.

"I told you, it's Roxanne," she smliled warmly at him.

"R-Roxanne. I never programmed them to harm you. In fact, they are programmed to do the opposite. I'm so sorry it did that to you," he seemed very upset. Her kidnapper programmed his pet robots specifically not to hurt her? How could this person think he was evil?

"No, it's ok. It had to, or like you said, I would still be staring at that thing. All I was trying to say is I am in awe of your ingenious little pets." His heart stopped.

"Oh. Um. Thank you?"

"Was that a question?" she teased him. His heart started beating again irregularly and he laughed nervously but didn't say anything. After several moments of silence, she seemed to realize he wasn't going to answer her and returned to her comfortable position in the back seat, staring out the window at the rapidly-passing dark shadows of the desert landscape.

Minion heard the entire exchange and couldn't believe his own ears. Was Miss Ritchi really paying his boss a compliment for no reason other than to say something nice to him? She didn't seem to have an ulterior motive but he couldn't be sure. Women were the trickier sex of the human species. He'd had a hard time believing anything a woman said ever since that sham of a teacher back in Sir's school days. No one had ever been kind to his master without wanting something in return or having some kind of plan to humiliate him. He silently vowed to keep a closer eye on the situation.

The remainder of their ride passed in silence. Roxanne nodded off in the back seat and Megamind mostly stared out the window. When Minion spotted the seedy little run-down side of the road motel in front of them, he immediately slowed the car down to stop there. He pulled around to the side of the building and parked in a spot, leaving the invisibility cloak active. The motel appeared open but not busy, and the "security" lights in the area were all out.

Megamind hopped out of the car immediately and cautiously approached a room that appeared to be unoccupied. He picked the manual lock and opened the door, stepping inside the room to make sure the drapes were closed fully before he returned to the car and began digging around in the glove box. He retrieved a small case and put it in his belt before turning toward the back seat. They did not need any attention, paper trail or any other complications on their journey back to Metrocity.

As Minion exited the car, he turned and saw his master placing his ungloved blue fingers on the reporter's peach ones that were resting atop her knee. She was still curled into a ball with her legs propped against the back of the passenger seat at her knees and her head wedged between the seat and the window. Her face was upturned and illuminated by the green light from the motel sign. His master gently tapped her hand to wake her. When she didn't respond, he picked up her hand and squeezed it.

Minion saw the reporter's hand squeeze the blue one back and heard his master say in a gentle voice, "Roxanne, we're here." She still didn't move.

"Mmmm," was the only reply he could get from the sleeping reporter. He saw his boss exit the car and move the seat out of the way so he could get to the reporter, letting her knees fall down, but he caught her legs with his arm. Then he saw the blue alien gather the passed-out journalist into his arms and carry her into the room. He placed her down on the bed as gently as he could, not really being able to see what he was doing in the dim light coming from the open door. No sooner did Minion come in and close the door than she woke up and said into the darkness, "Where are we?"

"We are stopping here for a while, Roxanne, just go back to sleep," Megamind said as he stood and felt along the wall to the bathroom door. He turned the light inside on and closed the door until it was merely cracked. She laid back down but did not close her eyes, never being one to be comfortable in total darkness. It was part of the reason she had an apartment with so many windows. They let the city lights in so it was never really dark.

"Minion, go get some ice and see if there is anything else in the vicinity that would be helpful in our situation. Especially food, if possible."

"Yes, Sir. You need to get some sleep." The henchfish left the room after making sure no one was looking in their direction and it was quiet in the room for a long while. The light from the bathroom, although miniscule, was just enough that she could see where he was. He was not paying any attention to her and dropped heavily on the other bed in the room. He propped the pillows against the headboard. He turned and put his booted feet up on the bed and then leaned back against the soft cushions and closed his eyes. She took that opportunity to gain his attention.

From her position on the second bed, she said, "Megamind, I need to talk to you." She heard his sharp intake of breath and realized she had startled him. For a moment he just breathed and she began to think he was going to ignore her.

"What is it, Roxanne?"

"I need to clarify something I said to you yesterday morning."

It seemed to snap him out of his sleepy haze and he muttered, "Oh?" He looked in her direction allowing her to see his eyes in the bathroom light.

She stared straight into his eyes and, unable to stop the blush that crept across her cheeks, she said, "When you asked me why I kissed you, I said I was curious. I think you took me the wrong way." She stood and quickly moved to sit down next to him on his bed. She had to make sure she said what she'd wanted to eariler, and Minion would be back at any moment. She leaned in closer to him and said, "What I meant was that I wanted to know how your lips felt against mine, how you would taste when I kissed you, how you would return my kiss if you wanted to. If I would like it. I have been curious about those things for a long time, Megamind. And not because you are an alien, but because you are you: fun, witty, brave, intelligent, handsome…you!" She found that since she had started, she couldn't stop herself from continuing her rant, telling him all of the frustration she'd had at his hands. "God, I would have asked YOU out years ago if you hadn't been trying to take over the city."

"You would?" he interrupted as he finally found his voice again. She'd laid a lot on him but none of it was unwelcome. He smiled shyly at her and she took one of his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers, skin touching skin. The scarce light from the bathroom was just enough to highlight his features in the darkness. She returned his smile.

"I would have, yes. You are the most interesting man I have ever met." She chuckled to herself the said, "You know, I'd actually started to enjoy some of the kidnappings, strangely enough, this one included." She furrowed her brow at her own logic. Huh. It was true. Despite everything, their entire mis-adventure had still been sort of fun; almost like a camping trip. "And then you trusted me pretty majorly in there, which I can't tell you how that made me feel."

"Why not?"

"Huh? Oh, it's an expression"

"Well, how did you feel having me at your mercy?"

"Powerful and important."

"Wha-?

She smiled at his confusion. She loved being able to do that to him. It was such a dead give-away that he had feelings for her, no matter how he tried to deny it. "Well, powerful because I did have you, as you put it, at my mercy – I could have turned you in and ran for it," she paused as he blanched and frowned, wide eyed. She put her free hand on his cheek tenderly. "But, I couldn't do that to you any more than you could have left Minion in there to die. That's why I felt important. You trusted me with your life and Minion's, to get you both out of there. I know that was not an easy thing for you to do."

He found himself unconsciously leaning into her touch. The last thing he remembered was her squeezing his hand before he found himself kissing her again as she suddenly pressed her lips to his. Her body fell forward and landed against him, making him sink into the pillows he'd been leaning on, as her arm wrapped around his shoulder. It also prompted him to open his mouth a bit, which allowed her to deepen the kiss. He moaned softly against her mouth as she massaged the back of his neck and head with her hand. His lips caressed hers in all the ways she seemed to like, making her keep coming back for more and more. Having never kissed anyone before her, Megamind was an eager student and she was an excellent teacher. The theory was an easy one for him to grasp, but the execution required finesse, which he seemed to possess if her reactions were any indication.

The position he was in became uncomfortable as it felt as though his butt was going to slide into the crack between the bed and the wall. Rather than interrupt her attentions to his mouth, he dropped the hand she had intertwined and wrapped both of his arms around her waist, pulling her into his lap and simultaneously adjusting his position on the bed to a more comfortable one. She readily melted into his embrace, moving so that she straddled his thin frame. She wrapped her arm around his other shoulder to hold him close, and then continued her exploration of his mouth. One of his arms remained wrapped tightly around her waist while the other had felt its' way up her back, his hand tangling itself in her hair.

She ground her hips against him in much the same way as she had before, but this time he did not withdraw from her, instead he pushed her back against the mattress and climbed on top of her, his pelvis coming to rest between her legs. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, holding him tightly to her as she felt his hardness rub against her, sending waves of pleasure through her body. The tender kisses that he kept lavishing upon her were becoming more frantic and heated with each passing second and made her want him all the more.

"Sir, what's going on here?"

"Oh…" Megamind stammered as he hastily rolled off of his beautiful partner-in-crime. He sat up and put a pillow in his lap despite the darkness of the room.

Roxanne spoke up after several seconds of uncomfortable silence, "Megamind and I are re-evaluating our relationship." Both of the guys looked at her in the darkness but she just stayed in her laid-back position and smiled.

"Sir?" Minion looked at his master confused.

"We are?" Megamind said at the same time that Minion spoke, only he was staring at the woman who was still laying next to him on the bed. She smiled even wider before she propped herself up on her elbows and looked directly into the otherworldly green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark.

"I think we are, unless of course that's not something you are interested in."

"No! Uh… I mean uh, yes! Yes, I am interested. There you have it, Minion!"

The fish looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment before smiling weakly. "Well, congratulations, I guess. To both of you." He waited a moment and then looked back to his boss, "Sir, can I speak with you, please."

Megamind stood up from the bed and made his way to the door where Minion was standing and then turned back to her and said, "We will only be a moment. Minion has something he would like to tell me, er…in private. Please stay in here." She opened her mouth to protest and he silenced her with a look.

"Fine," she said dejectedly and laid back against the bed.


	16. Wants and Needs

**a/n: So, this is more like a chapter-let after the last one. I'm going to try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible since this one is so short and it's THE WEEKEND FINALLY! ****Anyway, this conversation had to happen. Hope you like the little puff I threw in at the end. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Sixteen: Wants and Needs

Once Minion had assured himself that no one was watching again, he stepped outside the room followed by his boss. He took a hold of Megamind's arm and dragged him to the invisible car like a parent with a misbehaving child, opening the passenger door and shoving him inside. He shut the door swiftly and made his way around to the door that Megamind was just opening for him. He sat down in the driver's seat, shut the door quietly and took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking. "Sir, what are you doing? You can't be serious about this!"

"I'm fairly certain that she really likes me, Minion! I have had similar feelings for her for such a long time." The fish turned inside his dome to face his friend, concern in his eyes. He had suspected that the reason for their only kidnappee being Miss Ritchi was because his boss was fond of her. Given the sheltered life he'd led thus far, it would only be natural for him to develop an attachment to the only woman who had ever paid him any attention at all. He wanted more than anything for the blue alien to be happy in his life, but he had serious doubts about Miss Ritchi's motives for because he just could not wrap his brain around the sudden change in their disposition toward each other.

"Sir, even if you have had feelings for her for a long time, that doesn't mean she feels the same way toward you," he knew it was harsh of him to say and he regretted having to say it but it needed to be said. He had to know the risk he was taking even if he didn't want to see it.

"Oh, what do you know, Minion?" his voice was impatient and indignant. It was not the first time he'd gotten that reaction from his friend. He always was a little on the childish side, all the more reason to worry about the situation he'd gotten himself into. Megamind's naïveté would be his undoing, Minion just knew it.

"Sir, I may not know much, but I do know this: the bad guy doesn't get the girl! This is a very, very bad thing that you have started," the fish scolded the younger alien. Megamind looked at him with annoyance and frustration on his face. The fish opened his mouth to continue his rant, but Megamind interrupted him.

"It's not a bad thing!" he exclaimed putting his hand on Minion's large furry arm briefly before resuming the dramatic gestures he always used to emphasize his point. "It's what I've always wanted, Minion. If I have to give up being the bad guy to keep her with me, then so be it!" His hands flailed dramatically as he spoke and Minion instinctively ducked his entire body although he was protected behind the glass of his dome. "If it means I get be with her, then I don't want to be the bad guy anymore!"

The fish gasped and looked at his friend with shock all over his face, "Who _are_ you?"

"Someone who's tired of being told no!" he exclaimed quickly with another exasperated wave of his hands, fuming at the impertinence of the fish for trying to get in his way. After not receiving any response at all from Minion, Megamind stilled his histrionics and sank back into the seat, almost defeated. He turned to look at his friend after a moment and saw the somewhat hurt expression on his face. He sighed, "Minion, look, I know what I am doing here." He didn't want to hurt his friend or imply that his advice wasn't heard and understood, but Minion had no idea what the two of them had been through over the last several days, together. He just couldn't bear the thought of being apart from her, more so now that he'd experienced what he would be missing. "I can't let her go." He paused and looked into Minion's eyes. "I just can't, so please don't ask me to. I need her." The last bit was said as he slumped back into the seat resting his hands in his lap. He was playing with his fingers absent-mindedly.

There was a long silence that passed, during which Minion fiddled with the gauges on the dashboard and Megamind sat like a scorned child in the seat, silently staring at the toes of his boots, his brow furrowed and a frown on his face. Minion watched him out of the corner of his eye as he scanned over the readouts. He couldn't have told you if he was looking at the gas gauges or the battery monitor, but he still looked. "Sir," the fish finally broke the silence, "I'm not asking you to just give her up, but I am asking you to be careful. She's still Metro Man's girlfriend and the last time I checked, you were his primary enemy. Problem number one…"

The blue alien became animated again as he interrupted his friend, "But, she's not, Minion! She told me she never was with that muscled-up mama's boy! She told me I'm her type, not him." He had a sappy smile on his face now which was a pleasant change from the frown, but it still didn't make him feel better because the smile was related to her. He needed to talk to Roxanne.

"Did she really say that, Sir?" Minion was just more and more worried with this entire thing and his boss' enthusiasm was not helping him to feel better.

"Well, not in so many words, but she said she prefers smart guys to brawny ones! And she kissed me, Minion! Three times!" His eyes took on a dreamy quality to match the smile that was still present. Minion just frowned. Megamind had gotten his hopes up like this once before and the aqueous alien did not want to face the aftermath if this blew up on him like the last time - when he'd started going to that school. He felt that there wouldn't be enough of the other alien left to recover if Roxanne wasn't really interested. He'd obviously already given his whole heart to her, so the mess would be nearly impossible to clean up if she did not reciprocate his feelings. He made a mental note to speak with her as soon as possible.

After a moment Minion found his voice and spoke encouragingly despite his misgivings, "Well, Sir, it sounds like you are right about her feelings, but I do worry about you getting hurt. Relationships can be fraught with dangers of their own and not to your physical well being. Just be careful, Sir." He'd wait to really decide his opinion on the matter until after speaking with Roxanne.

"Don't be such a pill, Minion! She's perfect, everything will be perfect!"

Sometimes, the little alien wondered how someone as intelligent as his friend could be so blind and have such tunnel vison when things were so much more complicated than he would admit. "If you say so, Sir."

"I do, Minion. And I need some rest, so are we done here?"

"Yes, Sir, I believe we are," he barely got the word yes out of his mouth before his friend was out of the car and racing back to the room. "For now." Minion got out of the car and secured it before heading back to the room himself. He walked inside and shut the door, securely locking it to prevent any unexpected entries during their stay. As he turned back around, he noticed Megamind reclining on the bed opposite of the one he'd been on with Roxanne before, lying flat on his back in the middle of the bed with only one pillow under his head. He was reclined with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. His lanky legs were stretched out in front of him with his feet crossed at the ankles. The reporter was curled up on the other bed, her head against the stack of pillows he knew his master had set up for his own use. He saw his boss's one eye open at the sound of his approach and said, "Sir, I am going to power down for a few hours. I'll put the light in standby mode too so we can all sleep. The alarm is set for three hours from now. We'll get ready and leave then."

"Agreed, Minion. Wake me when you are awake." Megamind thought about taking a shower just then to get it out of the way, but the alarm was already set, so he'd be using up his sleeping time. Roxanne had fallen asleep without having taken one so he decided a few more hours probably wouldn't kill him either. As soon as his head hit the pillow, the argument was over. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

"Yes, Sir." The fish stationed his gorilla body in front of the door as a blockade and then activated his castle-shaped bed so he could descend into his lower habitat to catch some sleep. His master was settled in before the suit had finished retracting the castle. He could hear the light but distinctive snore signaling he was falling asleep. Minion closed his eyes, doing his best to clear the new disturbing thoughts from his mind. There was just no way his boss and Miss Ritchi could make a relationship work! He drifted to sleep with those thoughts on his mind and worry in his heart.

Several minutes later Roxanne awoke with a start because she felt a sudden call from Mother Nature, from whom she hadn't heard in several days, now that she thought about it. She raced into the bathroom to take care of business, washing her hands when she was finished and making sure that very little light escaped due to her necessary activities, she emerged and leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door. She hadn't really meant to fall asleep waiting for the boys to come back, but the activities of the day had caught up with her and in combination with the softer-than-sand mattress she was sitting on, sleep had overcome her unwillingly.

Looking around the room, she saw in the dim light that Megamind was asleep on the other bed and Minion was similarly occupied in front of the door. She decided to try to get some more sleep and made her way back to the bed on which she'd fallen asleep. She lay back down and cuddled up with the pillows as she had been before and closed her eyes. She expected sleep to claim her quickly again but it didn't happen. She tossed and turned for several minutes, feeling like something was strange about how she was trying to sleep. She arranged the pillows and blankets every which way attempting to find a position that would let her body fall asleep now that she was consciously trying to do so. A soft sound intruded upon her frustrated sleeplessness and she listened to it for a moment. She recognized it immediately once she listened; Megamind was breathing steadily, almost snoring, in the other bed, apparently sleeping better than she was. Her subconscious mind put the pieces together and she was momentarily stunned by the result.

She couldn't make herself fall asleep because he wasn't next to her? Really? Had she gotten that used to sleeping next to him in three short nights? As tired as she was, her normally insatiable curiosity pled for her to just accept it and do something about it. It took a little longer for her rational mind to agree, but it did eventually. She must be really tired. Once her mind was made up, however, there was no room left for argument, so she got back off the bed and crawled into Megamind's bed to snuggle up against him. The only movement he made was to turn onto his side so she could spoon against him more comfortably, and to wrap his arm around her waist. She settled against his familiar form and quickly felt herself beginning to nod off. As sleep was just about to claim her, she heard a deep pleasant voice in her ear that put a smile on her face which followed her into her dreams.

"Goodnight, Roxanne."


	17. Intentions

**a/n: Minion seems to have a terminal case of bad timing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Seventeen: Intentions

Just under three hours later, Minion's alarm went off and he woke up. They needed to get back on the road well before first light and he knew that one or both of them would want to bathe before they left. He activated the control to raise his castle into the dome tank, leaving the water lights dimmed. After he sent the castle back down into the suit, he looked around the room. A brief moment of panic overtook him as he saw that Roxanne was not in her bed. The panic subsided immediately when he saw her form snuggled against his master's in the other bed, both of them sleeping peacefully. It was an extremely rare occurrence indeed when his friend was able to sleep for more than half an hour without waking up screaming in agony because of another nightmare. Maybe there was really something in this thing with Miss Ritchi after all.

He approached the couple cautiously, not wanting to scare them awake with the loud bulkiness of his suit. The light in the room was still extremely dim, his own lights being lowered and the bathroom door was barely cracked, only letting in a small sliver of light on the wall opposite the door. It wasn't enough for him to be able to see more than basic shapes in the darkness. "Sir," he whispered as quietly as the speakers in his dome would allow.

Megamind's eyes opened immediately as he was a very light sleeper, no doubt a result of growing up where he did. He didn't move from the position he was in, lying on his side, his knees bent, his arm wrapped tightly around the waist of the same warm body in whose hair his nose was buried. He inhaled deeply and smiled up at his friend sheepishly. He sighed, regretting that he had to interrupt their perfect moment. "She should be awake any moment, Minion," he whispered as he reluctantly pulled his nose away from the tantalizing smell that still lingered on her hair despite their being dirty from their journey. Perhaps this was just her scent he smelled? That possibility excited him further.

"Mmmm. Good morning to you too, Megs," she said as she smiled to herself and wriggled against him suggestively a few times and then sat up and put her feet on the floor. Her back still rested against the evidence of his excitement.

"Megs?" he asked in an amused voice as he sat up next to her, his feet dangling as his knees bent at the edge of the bed. He was glad the room was still dark so he could recover his composure before anyone actually saw him since all of the pillows were on the other bed.

"Yeah, it's a nickname. I shortened your name in my head a long time ago, I guess it was only a matter of time before I said it out loud. We've spent a lot of time together these last few days," she said with a smile even though no one could see her face. The smile began to falter as there was no response from either of the other two people in the room. The silence had stretched on uncomfortably long when she felt the need to save herself from drowning in it. "You don't like it."

He replied quickly, "No, no, I do! I've never had a nickname before." He paused, and then added, "Well, at least I've never had one that wasn't given to me out of spite." He felt for her hand and took it gently into his warm one before saying, "Roxanne, you may call me Megs, if you wish." That made her smile brightly even though she was the only one who knew she was smiling. She couldn't help herself.

"Well then, Megs," she paused, "I am going to take a quick shower. I wish I didn't have to put back on the same clothes, but at least my skin will be clean." She squeezed his hand and then let go. She braced herself on his knee and pushed up off the bed. He handed her something that felt like a small case. "What is this?"

"My emergency grooming kit. It has everything I could need in a pinch. A super-villan must always look his best no matter the occasion!" he said with a dramatic tone. She envisioned his finger pointing dramatically at the ceiling and giggled, then leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. He turned his head to face her at the last moment, not knowing she was getting ready to kiss him, and her lips landed on his. She let her lips linger on his for a long moment before she pulled away.

"You know, you're lucky you have that formula. I would kill for some clean clothes right about now. Maybe I could convince you to treat some of my clothes with your magic checmical when we get back to Metro City?" She took the small case he'd given her and slipped into the bathroom as nimbly as she had before, letting very little light escape, and went about cleaning up with whatever she could use out of his kit and the shampoo that was stocked in the shower.

Outside the bathroom, Megamind's quiet reply came several seconds after she had turned on the water, "I am sure that can be arranged."

Minion was still in wide-eyed shock at the interaction he'd heard pass between the two of them and the way she seemed to genuinely care about him. She had a nickname for him? And one that wasn't at all deprecating to his master. "Sir, why was Miss Ritchi in your bed?"

"Hmm?" he said dreamily. "Oh. Yes, she woke up after we settled down and came over here and climbed in next to me. I think she missed sleeping with me."

Minion almost choked. "Sleeping with you? Where exactly have you and Miss Ritchi been, Sir? What have you been doing?"

"We were lost in the desert, Minion, I thought you knew that," he said with evident confusion in his voice. He seemed to realize after a moment what Minion must be thinking and immediately began backpedaling, "No, no, not like that! It gets cold in the desert at night and we had no shelter. A fire can only do so much for ambient heat in a wide open area, so we had to share our body heat. We slept in much the same position as you found us here for the past three nights. I think she missed it. I must say I rather enjoyed it myself."

Minion remembered his earlier observation and asked, "Sir, have you had any nightmares these past nights?"

"I… huh," he started and then paused for a moment to think back on the surprisingly excellent quality of sleep he'd gotten even though he was sleeping on a bed of hard sand. "I don't think I've had a single one this entire time."

"You didn't wake up from your nap just now either."

"You'd think I really would have had one especially since we were just in there." He sighed and thought of logical reasons they could have passed, ignoring the obvious conclusion. "Maybe the stress of the situation before and finally escaping the base successfully has ended the nightmares!" Blind to the obvious. Minion just shook his body in the water.

"Maybe," Minion agreed verbally but not mentally. He knew it had something to do with Miss Ritchi. He had spent time almost every single day for more than two decades helping the hysterical alien calm down from the horrible dreams he'd been plagued with since he'd come back from Area 51 the first time. This was the only time the nightmares had ever stopped. The fish realized that only time, and separating the two of them, even if only for one night, would tell the truth he felt in his heart already.

They heard the water cut off in the shower and the sounds of Roxanne hastily dressing herself before there was a brief flash of light and she emerged with messy wet hair, rumpled dirty clothes and bare feet. She felt much better having the almost-four-days-worth of grime off of her skin, even if she was wearing the same clothes. Her underwear, she'd left in the trash can, not being able to make herself put them back on. The bra was an unfortunate necessity, so she'd reluctantly put that back on when she'd redressed. She stood at the edge of the bed she'd shared with Megamind, holding her shoes and socks, and told him, "Your turn."

She heard the springs on the bed squeak and then felt a hand caress her cheek lighty as he rushed past her and into the room she'd just vacated. Her hand came up to rest on the cheek he'd touched. She put her shoes down on the corner of the bed and proceeded to run her fingers through her hair to smooth it out as best she could. The mirror had been too foggy to make an attempt in the bathroom and she knew time was ticking so she didn't want to monopolize the room for too long.

"Um, Miss Ritchi?" Having finished with her hair, she'd turned around and was putting her shoes on when the fish spoke.

"Yes, Minion?" She pulled her second shoe on and turned back to regard the faint glow of the dome tank and the outline of the large fish inside.

"I don't mean to be indelicate, but…" he paused.

She took the opportunity to crawl forward and sit herself down in the middle of the bed, feeling around to be sure she was not near an edge before she crossed her legs and leaned back on her hands. "But, what?"

"Well…I uh. What are, um, what exactly are your, um, intentions toward Sir?" The fish sounded extremely uncomfortable in asking the question which made her feel better about answering it honestly.

She'd been expecting this question ever since the private conversation he'd had with the blue alien earlier and had composed a response in her head for it. "Well, my intentions are to be with him if he'll have me."

"And you are okay with his choice of career?"

"No, of course not."

"What about it then? He's still a villain, or so he wants everyone to think, and an escaped fugitive to boot!"

"So you see it too. Oh, of course you do, you've known him forever! I want to help him realize he can have a rewarding life without resorting to criminal activity."

"So, you want to change him."

"Not more than what I just said, Minion." She knew she had to get the fish to understand that she honestly cared about his friend. She plead her case, "During our time together these last few days, I've gotten to know the guy behind the villainous persona and I really like him. Who knew that there was a sensitive, charismatic, funny, sweet guy under all that show he puts on? I mean, besides you! You know as well as I do that he could make millions if he sold his inventions to the right people. He doesn't have to be a criminal!" Roxanne spoke passionately as she told the fish her feelings.

"He's still out of prison illegally, Miss Ritchi! He's almost always on the Most Wanted list and he has eighty-one life sentences! Are you telling me that you can look past all of that?"

"For now, yes, I think so. He has a good heart, even if he is a little misguided, and I want to be with him. I need to be with him. And, I think I can help him turn over a new leaf without changing anything else about him. As for the rest, I'm going to work on that too. He doesn't deserve to have been treated the way he has for most of his life. That has to count for something," she trailed off as she was lost in the thoughts now spinning in her head about just who was going to help her get what she wanted. The fish had to admit that she seemed to have her heart and her head in the right place. He decided to remove himself from the equation and let them work out their relationship between themselves.

Neither she nor Minion had noticed that the water was off for the last part of their conversation. Megamind emerged from the bathroom wearing only his stretchy undersuit with bare feet and hands. Roxanne noticed his feet in the bathroom light, this being the first time she'd seen them, and smiled to herself. She shouldn't have been surprised that he had ten toes, but she scolded herself lightly because she was. His feet looked perfectly normal and bright blue like the rest of him. She was suddenly struck with the urge to find out if they were ticklish. She tamped it down. Maybe later.

"Minion, please go make sure we won't be spotted leaving the room," Megamind ordered.

Minion looked from his master to Roxanne a few times and then sighed, "Yes, Sir." He opened the door and peaked out before stepping into the hallway and disappearing around the corner. Roxanne looked at the red numbers on the little alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. All she registered was that the first number was a three and she knew they wanted to be gone before there was even the possibility of the sun coming up over the horizon or someone spotting them unknowingly, but this was the kind of early she hadn't seen since her college days.

"I heard what you said, Roxanne," Megamind said quietly as he sat on the edge of the bed to put on his boots. She crawled across the bed and sat down close to him, letting her legs dangle from the knees the same way he had before. She still supported herself by leaning back on her hands.

"What did I say?" She wasn't ashamed of anything she'd said to Minion and in truth, she was secretly relieved that he had heard it. She just hoped he hadn't taken anything the wrong way.

"You said that you like me," he responded as he finished situating his second boot. "Minion is right, you know. I am still a villain."

She put her hand on his arm causing him to look into her eyes. "I do, and I know. That doesn't make me like you any less. You were a villain when I met you. But, that's not really who you are, Megs," she paused and looked into his eyes, pleading with him to understand. "I don't want you to be the bad guy anymore. I- I just want you to be with me. Do you think you could do that?" He opened his mouth to respond to her bold question, his eyes burning into hers. He'd already made that decision, so telling her would be easy, but Minion came back in the room at that very second and they both looked at him. She heard his teeth click as his mouth shut and Minion seemed to realize he had interrupted something again. He looked at his friend apologetically before he spoke.

"Sir, the coast is clear. We should get moving now before anything happens to prevent us from leaving." The two sitting on the bed agreed silently to resume their conversation at a later time.

Megamind stowed the grooming kit in his belt again and stood from the bed, saying into the darkened room, "Yes, Roxanne, I believe I could." Minion had no idea what his friend meant, but Roxanne felt as though she'd just won the lottery. He had to love her if he was willing to give up being his life-long role of the villain just to be with her. She couldn't stop smiling as she stood and followed closely behind Megamind out of the room and on to the invisible car to resume their trip home. Minion went back into the room once more to retrieve any evidence of their having been there including the trash bags and Roxanne's half-used shampoo bottle. The cleaning staff could just wonder why the beds were mussed.

Once they were back in the invisible car and on the road, Roxanne stretched out in the back seat to try to get some more sleep, road trips always making her tired. She found a cape in the seat and wadded it up into a lumpy pillow. The silky fabric felt good against the slightly sunburned, dry skin on her face and arms. The fabric smelled like him so she closed her eyes and pretended he was with her in the seat, hoping to trick her mind into letting her catch some more sleep while she could. In the back of her mind, she thought of how ironic it was that she was now willingly sleeping in the back of the car that she had been an unconscious captive in the back of so many times before. It shouldn't be amusing to her, but it was. After several long moments of listening to the engine of the car hum as Minion drove in silence, she did eventually drift back off to sleep.


	18. Favor

**a/n: So, I was watching Spaceballs while I was typing this chapter, and the air-shield code scene makes me laugh out loud every time, so maybe I was thinking about that when I wrote this chapter. Sorry so short! Hope to get the next one up soon, but I have to work so we'll see.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Eighteen: Favor

The previous night, Minion had grabbed everything he could out of the vending machine using sir's coin-on-a-string trick and stashed it in the car for their trek, including several bottles of water. Unfortunatey for them, it was mostly sweet snacks. Megamind had gone for the mini-donuts and Roxanne had taken the healthiest thing in the pile, a granola bar. Minion opted not to eat as he told them that he had snagged some of his flakes already. They'd eaten quickly and Roxanne had found her comfortable position using Megamind's cape as a pillow to catch what she hoped would be a few more hours of sleep before the sun came up and made it impossible for her to sleep anymore.

According to the GPS map in the invisible car, it was going to take them about fourty-eight hours to get back to Metro City from the motel. Of course, in invisible mode, traveling at more than double the posted speed limit, they would likely knock half a day easy off their journey. They had to be careful when they approached a heavily populated area because of the other cars on the road. A little over two hours after they had departed the motel, Roxanne awoke as a light moved across her eyes. She was surprised to find that they were passing through a city. The darkness of the hour was less noticeable because of the lights in the city. "Where are we?" she asked with a yawn. She stretched her muscles as much as she could in the back seat.

Megamind turned around in his seat and looked at her. She had sleepy eyes, her hair was disheveled and she had a slightly confused expression on her face, but that just made her more adorable to him. "Passing through St. George, Utah. We'll be stopping for gas soon because the main tank is empty and the reserve tank is almost there, but I don't want to stop inside the city. It would be much more noticeable because we have to turn off the cloak while we fill up." He was silent for a moment and she looked out the window at the buildings passing rapidly by. "Roxanne, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure."

He hadn't expected her to agree without knowing what he was going to ask her to do. She really did trust him. "Well, Minion and I are both a little conspicuous. Would you mind pumping the gas for us so we don't draw any unwanted attention to ourselves? The car is enough of a draw without one of us standing next to it."

"No problem," she said, fully agreeing with his logic. He smiled at her in thanks and turned back around to watch the road. The buildings started to thin out and become more residential in nature and before long they had passed outside of the city limits. As they drove, she found herself looking at the back of Megamind's head wondering what he was thinking about. She sincerely wished Minion had not interrupted their conversation earlier, and she looked forward to continuing it later.

Little did she know that Megamind was sitting in the front seat forcing himself to resist a strong urge he had to turn around and gaze at the lovely reporter in the back seat. He could feel her watching him and he knew that she wanted to continue their conversation as much as he did. He was anxious to discover the possibilities of this new-found relationship with the girl of his dreams.

Minion was focusing on driving the car, pointedly ignoring the palpable tension between the two passengers. The two of them obviously had chemistry and if they were both true to what they'd told him, then the budding relationship had a chance to be successful. For his master's sake, he hoped it would. He drove the car down the exit ramp and stopped at the stop light, pressing the button to deactivate the invisibility shield at the same time as he pressed another button to activate the darker-than-legal automatic tint on the windows. It was a feature they rarely had a use for with the invisibility shield, but handy none-the-less given their current situation. He turned into a brightly lit parking lot in the middle of nowhere with a tall red and yellow sign that read, "Shell," and pulled up next to a pump.

Megamind reached into the glove box and pulled out a standard-looking wallet. He opened it and retrieved a small plastic card with silver numbers and a name embossed on the front next to the holographic icon and the Visa logo. He handed the card to Roxanne and she took it in her hand without really looking at it. He climbed over the seat and sat next to her in the back seat. She looked at him for a moment before she realized what she needed to do and began climbing into the front seat so she could get out of the car. She opened the door and looked back at Megamind as she exited the car. He grinned at her and she smiled in return. She stood and closed the door, placing the card in the reader as Minion pressed yet another button to open the gas tank hatches. The gas caps both disengaged automatically and moved up and out of the way. The credit card machine asked for the billing zip code. She knocked on the window of the passenger side of the car where she was standing. It descended about an inch and stopped.

"Yes?" Megamind's voice came out of the car.

"What's your zip code?"

"One, two, three, four, five."

"No, really?"

"Really. I have a P.O. Box in Schenectady, New York. Now, hurry up, we don't need so much exposure. Oh, and put ninety-three in, please," Megamind said, then the window went back up and she entered the numbers into the keypad, shaking her head with an amused smirk the entire time. Pulling the handle out of the correct pump, she lifted the 'on' switch and then inserted the nozzle into the opening of the first gas tank. She then turned around to lean on the car as she depressed the handle to dispense the gasoline into the tank. She had time to think because the car had a super-sized main resevoir and a regular sized gas tank as reserve. It was going to take quite a while to fill up.

He'd explained once a long while ago that he'd designed the car with the overlarge gas tanks so he would not be hassled with the inconvenience of having to fill the thing up so frequently or running out of gas at a critical moment. Then, of course, he'd also explained that he'd invented one of the first hybrid-motor driving systems so the car was ridiculously efficient on fuel mileage even with Minion's heavy foot. He never ceased to amaze her with some of his more brilliant inventions. Namely all of them not involving Metro Man or, sadly, herself up until that point. She would make sure that was not the case in the future. She realized that she wanted to be with him more than anything else she'd ever wanted in her life. He'd said he could do it for her, if she'd heard him right after Minion had interrupted them, and her request wasn't a difficult one, she thought. Surely he didn't want to be a villain. She most certainly didn't want him to be that either. She did find it somewhat funny when she realized that she'd participated in breaking the law by staying in that motel room, but she couldn't do anything about that now, and it really was a victimless crime. She didn't want to think about him being a bad influence on her because that particular instance had been entirely out of necessity, so she tucked it away in her mind for later consideration.

She examined the credit card in her hand, her fingers running over the numbers. The name on the card was Naren Aakil. It was an interesting name, and one she was certain had to be made up. Stealing someone's identity seemed like just the kind of low he never sunk to, little did she know what he was capable of. She assumed it had to be an alias he used for the card. She made a mental note to ask him about it when she was back in the car. She shivered a bit in the chilly breeze of the early morning air as she put the card in her pocket and returned her thoughts to the person whose card and interesting name she'd just been considering.

It was obvious to her that if she was really with him for good that he was not going to let himself stay locked up in prison and be kept away from her. She briefly toyed with the idea that they just let everyone think they died in the crash or subsequent explosion if that ever makes the news; the three of them could go settle down together somewhere far away, maybe even leave the country, and never go back to Metro City. It would be much simpler. She put the idea in the back of her mind because she wasn't sure she wanted to leave her home behind. It was certainly tempting, though. She thought about how they could possibly get him pardoned from his prison sentences if he promised to be good from here on out. Maybe the City would let him work his time off somehow. He had done an extensive amount of property damage over the course of the years, so she did not see the City officials letting him off scott free. He could help out with his inventions instead of being destructive with them. It was certainly something she would talk with him about later.

She heard the overfill-prevention mechanism click into operation and per her usual refueling habits, because Hal could never be bothered to take care of that for her either, she squeezed the handle a few more times. Each time, she held the handle until the click happened. Once she was satisfied that she'd gotten every last drop in the tank she could, she removed the nozzle from the tank and inserted it into the other tank's nozzle. She pressed the handle again and returned to her ruminations. Her thoughts started to drift to more pleasant things and the way she felt when she saw an image of his eyes in her mind from the last time he'd kissed her made a warm feeling in her chest spread out to her fingers and toes. How had she never seen how irresistable he is? She was startled when the pump's handle clicked again to let her know the reserve tank was full. She squeezed the handle a few more times again and then pulled it out, replacing it in the gas pump. She waited for the receipt to print and tore it off once it had. She opened the door got in, climbing over the seat to resume her position in the back seat. She began to settle herself and was about to say something when she saw that Megamind was still sitting in the back seat with her.

"Oh, did you want to lie down for a while?"

"No, not really. I was just tired of being in the front seat. You can have it if you want or you can sit in the back seat with me. Either way is fine." He smiled genuinely at her. She settled back into the seat and returned his warm smile with one of her own. No, she was just fine where she was. Minion pushed the button to re-seal the gas tanks, then turned the car back on, put it in gear and returned to the road.


	19. What's in a Name

**a/n: I know it seems like Roxanne sleeps a lot, but I do that too on car trips and she hasn't gotten a full night's sleep in four days so she's probably exhausted being only a mere human, having been in the sun for so long and not eating properly and all. Anyway, hope you like the longer chapter. :) **

**My entry into the "What's his real name?" fandom question. The name definitions came from Nameberry (Google it), if you want to look them up yourself. I love that site.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Nineteen: What's in a Name?

Roxanne stared in Megamind's direction in the back seat of the Hudson as Minion drove at over double the posted speed limit along the prescribed path back to Metro City. He sat on the other side of the car, behind the driver's seat, similarly staring in her direction. The morning had yet to become more than leftover night and there was very little light coming from the instrument panels on the dashboad. She leaned toward him and said in a quiet voice, "So, Naren Aakil, huh?" She pronounced the name Aah-KEEL. "Who is that?"

"Actually, it's AAH-kill," he smiled at her, evidently more pleased than he'd expected that she'd not only noticed the name on the credit card, but that she'd actually asked about it. "He's me. And I use the alias in my legitimate endeavors," he responded easily. He had legitimate endeavors? She heard the smile in his voice as he spoke, not really being able to see his expression in the darkness. He seemed genuinely happy just to be able to talk to her since their newfound affection for each other made it possible for them to interract in a more normal way. Well, if she was being honest with herself, the possibility had always been there, she'd just never tried. Of course, he really hadn't tried either. But, that was the past, and this was the present. And the present (in multiple meanings of the word) was the newly discovered side of him that she had gotten to know; the side he never showed to anyone, except Minion - and now her. She felt privileged to be one of only two beings who were lucky enough to know him this way.

"Well, knowing you, it probably means something. Will you tell me what it means?"

He let out a hearty laugh that warmed her heart. "I've always wanted someone to ask me that. No one ever has, not even Minion," he whispered the last part to her, but she was sure it was still loud enough for the fish to hear. He reached forward and took her hand in his before continuing. She squeezed his hand in return. "Since you were so kind to ask, Naren means 'superior man' and Aakil means 'intelligent', so my full name, in my opinion, means 'man of superior intelligence.' I found the names in a name dictionary when I was in the prison library as an older child. I told the Warden that was the name I had chosen since I didn't have a real one. He never asked why. My official birth certificate said 'Baby Boy Blue' on it for nine years until he petitioned the Court to have my name changed. He and Minion are the only ones who know the name, besides the Magistrate who handled the case for the Court, and he's retired now." He paused and looked at their intertwined hands for a moment, then continued without looking up. "Well, now you know my legal name, too." He was quiet for a moment and then chuckled at his own private joke, telling her, "Believe it or not, there is no criminal record attached to that name, which is why I can use it for lawful endeavors." So he did have interests outside of destruction and mayhem, that was good to know.

"It is a very unique name. I like it."

"Thank you," he said as he absently rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. He met her eyes again in the scarce light, "I am fortunate that Warden Davis hasn't helped the authorities to connect Megamind and Naren Aakil. Perhaps he has a soft spot for me after all." The last part, he said more to himself than to anyone else.

She smiled but didn't reply and they lapsed into a surprisingly comfortable silence. As the journey continued, the gentle motion of the car in combination with the darkness around them since the sun had yet to come up, lulled her into a sleepy trance. She felt her eyes droop and her head fell forward for a moment before she jerked it upward. She was still exhausted from their long journey and the amount of adrenaline that had been coursing through her body only hours ago. She felt weak for being so tired, but she could hardly help it.

Megamind noticed her behavior and made a bold move. He pulled on the hand of hers that he was still holding to get her attention and then said, "Come here." Sleepily, she scooted closer to him. "Ok, turn around with your back to me sitting sideways in the seat." She complied, barely keeping her eyes open. Once she was in position, he put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back against him so that she was laying with her chest pressed to his chest with his arms wrapped around her, one around her shoulders and the other around her waist and his fingers laced together at her back. She sensed what he was doing and snaked her hands around him between his back and the seat. She pulled her legs into a knees-slightly-bent position, settled her head into his shoulder and closed her eyes. He cradled her this way until the sun came up. It was bliss.

During her sleep, he found himself thinking about her and the incredible turn of tide their relationship had taken over the past four days. It seemed like so much time had passed because so much had changed between them. So much had happened. She sighed in his arms and he rested his cheek against her forehead. He noticed the same scent he'd smelled earlier and was happy to come to the conclusion that the faintly floral scent was truly her. Oh, he could smell the shampoo on her as well, it's tangy smell was very distinguishable. But, underneath that strong smell, he caught the hint of daisies. He was ridiculously happy she'd let him hold her this way. He had seen it in a movie one time and it looked like such an intimate way of holding someone that he'd longed to experience it for himself. He never thought it would be with the most perfect woman in the world.

He now felt that everything in his life had been leading him up to this unbelievable chance with her. Perhaps villainy was an imperfect means to this glorious end. He'd kidnapped her for the first time when he noticed Metro _Mahn_ paying particular attention to her after one of their battles – oh wow, was it really almost a decade ago that they'd started their game? He could hardly believe it. From that moment on, he'd been infatuated with her. She'd known him for so long a time and he realized that she was really the only person he'd met that had ever bothered to get to know him as an adult, flaws and all. And, he was thirty-five.

Sure Minion, the Warden and a few of the guards knew him because they'd known him all his life. The guard, Michael was still a close friend, despite the alien's criminal activities and he always asked to be posted to Megamind's cell during his incarcerations. But they had all gotten to know him before he'd decided to be a villain. Roxanne, extraordinarily amazing person that she is, had made an effort to draw conversation out of him and engage him in talking about himself and the things he liked. She had gotten to know him as he is now. She had felt with him and for him as he told her stories of his past during their journey together and he wanted so much just to be with her. He knew that had to mean change and sacrifice. There was no way someone as good as she was would be with someone that was constantly being taken back to prison for breaking the law. But that decision was made already, so there was no use dwelling on something he would hardly regret.

He allowed himself to hope into the future, thinking about the possibility of her marrying him. He'd done genetic research before into the possibility of cloning himself as one of his _ee-vil_ plans, so he knew that his genome and a human's were fully compatible, he even knew that the usual mechanics of human procreation would work. At the time, he had wondered how he would ever get a human female to stop screaming and sit still long enough for him to do what ne needed to to accomplish the task, but now he understood completely. Of course, he knew he was getting away from himself and reality by thinking longingly about a tiny hand with five stubby fingers wrapped around his index finger, blue skin touching blue skin, but once his brain started down that road, he couldn't stop himself.

He knew they were not going to have an easy time getting the people of Metrocity to accept their relationship. For all they knew, she was seriously involved with their hero. To them, it would seem that he'd stolen her from him. Or that she was being controlled and manipulated somehow into seeming to want to be with him. Stockholm Syndrome would be thrown around too, he was sure, since she'd been his hostage so many times. No one was going to believe she actually wanted to be with him. He still didn't entirely believe it, always waiting for the dream to end and reality to slap him back down. But here she was, willingy snuggled against him, and letting him hold her in the most prone form anyone can be. She trusted him and she liked him, that's all he cared about. He certainly did not want her to be miserable if the public eye was turned against her in a negative light, but he could absolutely not have cared one bit less if they looked on him that way. He was used to being treated that way. She wasn't, but he allowed himself to hope that she would be able to sway the public to favoring them as a couple and everything would turn out rosy.

Megamind began to notice the scenery passing by quickly was becoming more and more visible despite the tinted windows on the car. Minion had left the tint turned on after the gas station even though they were cloaked. It would let Roxanne sleep a little longer, and let him hold her for just that much longer too. He was enjoying this entirely too much to do anything to stop it.

An hour or so later, Roxanne awoke to find herself sprawled across her erstwhile kidnapper as he cradled her like a child. It was tempting to remain there and let him continue to hold her close, but the pain in her hip from laying on it for so long begged her to give it some relief. She squirmed a bit and gained his attention. She disentangled her arms from around his waist and put her hand on the seat next to his butt to support herself as she sat up next to him the way she had been before he'd pulled her into his embrace, although her torso was rotated toward him. She resisted the urge to goose him playfully, as she was trying not to make Minion uncomfortable by being overly affectionate with him around. Instead, she settled for placing her hand against his cheek and giving him a longer-than-quick close-lipped kiss.

"Good morning," she said brightly to both people in the car as she pulled back from the warm blue man in front of her and looked into his gorgeous eyes. Megamind's hands remained clasped around her waist as she moved, still not willing to let her go. She grinned at him when she realized she was trapped.

"Good morning, Miss Ritchi," Minion said from the front seat.

"It certainly is a good morning, isn't it Roxanne?" Megamind asked warmly, enjoying the way her name rolled off his tongue. He reluctantly let her go and she turned herself around so she was sitting facing forward in the seat. She stayed in the middle of the back seat, sitting close to him so she could hold his hand comfortably.

"So, where are we?"

"We passed through Kearney, Nebraska about thirty minutes ago. We are in farm country now," Minion replied helpfully. "We've made excellent time so far. I think we'll be back home in time for dinner tonight." Roxanne nodded thoughtfully and returned her gaze to the man sitting next to her. He looked back at her and they gazed deeply into each other's eyes, the low light in the back seat due to the tinted windows brought out the darker tones in her blue and made his green sparkle magically for her.

She felt herself drawn to him like a moth to a flame and soon their lips met in another tender close-lipped kiss. His hand found its way to her cheek and she smiled against him. They kissed each other lovingly but not passionately a few more times before they both stopped, remembering that they were not alone. Her eyes looked into his and then lingered on his lips for a few moments before she rested her head against his shoulder and wrapped both of her arms around his right arm. Her left hand found his right one and she intertwined their fingers. Oh yes, she was certainly falling for him.

A sudden sound interrupted the perfect moment she'd been having. Her stomach betrayed the fact that the reason she'd awoken in the first place was that she was starving. "Oh hoho, my dear. It appears it's time for breakfast. That snack earlier was hardly enough food. So, what would you like? We have a small assortment in here of the snacks left over from the hotel." He pushed a button in the back of Minion's seat and a panel slid out of the way revealing a cavity with packs of donuts, candy bars, Cupcakes and Twinkies, and a few more of those granola bars she'd had eariler.

She looked over the selection, her stomach making her feel how empty it was as her eyes reviewed all of the usually-delicious looking food. All of that sugar was a little off-putting to her, having just woken up. She had a thought as she stared at the selection and asked, "Actually, do you have any of those ration bars left?"

"What?"

"Those fruity ration cakes that you made. They were pretty good. I wouldn't mind that if you have some." She saw Minion look up in the mirror at her as she complimented the cakes.

"Oh, well, I grabbed the one you started to eat earlier to save it for you," he said and fished in his belt for the foil wrapped cake and handed it to her. She immediately removed the foil wrapping and tore off a chunk of the bar, and then started nibbling it like she'd done before, letting the rest fall into her lap. He watched her with an amused grin on his face. "You like those, huh?"

"I do, they are sweet without being overly sugary, and then there's the nutritional value. And they just taste good," she smiled warmly at him and resumed nibbling on her cake. Her being genuinely impressed with something he'd created gave him an unexpectedly rewarding feeling. Like he'd accomplished something worthwhile; it was remarkable.

He grabbed a package of the Twinkies out of the compartment and pressed the button to close it again. Then he pressed another button to open the compartment in the back of the passenger seat. This one was stocked with the water bottles that Minion had obtained at the motel. He grabbed two of them and handed one to her, then sat back against the seat. He pressed the button to close the hatch and tore into the food he'd chosen. His body needed the same basic things as a human's but he craved sugar more than anything. He needed it to keep up the level of energy with which he approached most things in life. So, he usually opted for a sweet treat when he did eat. He'd been more sensible with the ration bar recipe because the more overpowering the fruit flavors were, the worse the thing tasted. Straight sugar had been the same. It always tasted like overly-sweetened medicine. In the end, he'd had to make it less sweet to get the cake to taste just right. He was glad now that he'd paid so much attention to detail since she clearly enjoyed the flavor.

Minion in the front seat reached over to the glove box and retrieved his emergency food, having decided he should probably go ahead and eat now even though he wasn't feeling particularly hungry. He pushed the flip-top lid open and put the container in the cup holder so he could pinch some of the flakes for himself without taking his other hand off the wheel. He ate them with the same feeling which a human has when eating tasteless plain white toast. It didn't taste good, but it would tide him over until they could get home so he could have his preferred food source, chunks of raw meat. He closed the container and put it back in the glove box before he returned his attention to his passengers.

Miss Ritchi had finished her food and was watching his blue friend with amusement on her face while he ate the spongy yellow treat he'd selected. He took a bite and some of the filling squirted out of the hole on the bottom of the cake. It deposited a small spot on his nose that he did not notice. Minion, however, noticed that Roxanne seemed to be entranced by the small spot of creamy sugar as she watched him stuff the last bite of the cake into his mouth.

She waited until she saw him swallow and then leaned forward, licked the filling off of his nose and then kissed its tip before she kissed his lips briefly and then sat back with a satisfied smile on her face. He, on the other hand, had sat completely still once her tongue had touched his nose. He was looking at her with a mixture of confusion and lovesickness on his face. She took a drink out of her water bottle and then faced front, never releasing the hand she was holding or the smile on her lips. He was entirely too much fun to play with.

* * *

><p>General Lee Sayer was not happy. In point of fact, he was downright livid. Not only had the incompetent bootlickers he had this place staffed with lost the alien fish, but somehow their other recovery had blown up – literally – in their unsuspecting faces. No one had died in the blast, or even been injured, but the U.F.O. had been completely destroyed and most of the hangar with it. Why the hell had no one detected explosives on the damned thing? This entire day was one giant SNAFU. Someone was going down for this. Someone was going to pay.<p>

Oh, and to top it all off, there was the debacle with the blue alien spotted near the barracks that had made sure everyone was distracted away from their posts trying to catch it when the explosion happened. There was no possible way that it could have done what the MP's had reported they'd seen. They'd tested it years before and they knew it couldn't fly. Levitating was simply impossible, but somehow it had done just that to escape over the fence on the far edge of the grounds. It had gone over the fence and into the mountainous region to the north and vanished. He, of course, assumed the thing had come for its pet fish but there was no possible way that could have happened either. The timing didn't flow. The key reader records showed the unauthorized but somehow successful entry to the fish's cell was at the same time as the alien was spotted on the surface of the base. There was just so much wrong with this entire scenario that his logical orderly mind could not understand. There had to be something he was missing.

Seated in a large leather chair situated behind an even larger wooden desk with photographs and other confidential papers strewn across the surface, he groused to himself about paperwork. The only video evidence they had of anyone having been here was that there was a traceable path of disruptions to the feeds. They could not see anything but static, but they could see where the invader had gone. And curse whoever put that blasted maintenance hatch so close to the blasted fence! He was not looking forward to explaining to the brass what had occurred here. He had to find the person responsible to blame before that happened. Then he could punish that person and still look like he'd done nothing at all wrong.

"General Sayer!" Sayer looked up from his desk and saw a younger man standing in his doorway straight at attention and giving a salute to his commanding officer. As if Fate had decided for him, in walks just the man he had in mind for the currently vacant position of patsy.

He returned the salute but did not stand up, "Come in, Major. At ease." He responded in a deep voice, gruff from years of smoking cheap cigars. The younger man walked into the well-used room and stood in front of the desk, looking around as if it wasn't the ten thousandth time he'd been in there. He stared at the man expectantly for what felt like an entire minute before he finally said, "Well, what is it, Jenkins?"

"Uh," he stuttered. Who promoted this idiot to Major? "We have a development in Project Blueberry."

"I've had quite enough developments in that particular project this week. What is it now? Just cut to the chase."

"We know where they are, General. And, we know where they are going," Jenkins said to his commanding officer.

The older man snorted dismissively. "It should be fairly obvious where they are going. Once they are back in that city, there is no way we can get our hands on them. They are both too widely known there, and there would be too many questions." Not to mention Warden Davis, who'd all but threatened to make the General disappear the last time the two of them met if any harm came to the blue "child." Well, it was not a "child" anymore and it was outside of the zoo they kept it in for their protection, so as far as Sayer was concerned, it was fair game. He was angry with the idiot Major for thinking that he was bringing _valuable_ news about the one that got away. "So, unless you have some useful information for me, Jenkins, I suggest you get back to your duties and stop wasting my time."

"But, General, we planted a tracking device on the ape-robot thing the fish was operating when we captured it, per _your_ standard procedure when acquiring something of value. They are still several hours outside of the city right now! If we act quickly, we may be able to recover some of what we lost." As he took in what Jenkins had said, Sayer smiled for the first time since the day before, then he furrowed his brown slightly.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place, Jenkins? And why the hell didn't we know where they were sooner?" the General asked with irritation in his voice as he stood up from his seat. He was shorter but had more presence and bulk than the younger man.

"Oh, uh," the younger man said nervously. Idiot. "Through an oversight, the signal wasn't turned on until ten minutes ago. The person responsible has been reprimanded appropriately."

Sayer wasn't so sure about that. Incompetent bootlickers, all of them! He grimaced at the soon-to-be-demoted Major and walked around his desk toward the door. He gave orders as he strode with purpose, knowing that this was their one chance to fix this debacle before it became FUBAR. "Mobilize a recovery unit immediately. Make sure they are outfitted with full-spectrum goggles in addition to the normal riot gear. That alien is craftier than it seems and we must be prepared for anything!"

**a/n: In case you were wondering what the two military acronyms' meanings are:**

**SNAFU: Situation Normal, All Fouled Up (or …Fu***d Up if you prefer)  
>FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond All Relief (again, the other F word can be substituted)<strong>

**I am sure there are other variations of them, but those are the meanings I was using when I wrote it.**


	20. Games

**a/n: I am sorry I didn't get to post a chapter yesterday, I worked from 8:30 am to 1:30 am, slept and went back to work at 8:30 today, so I didn't have time. Anyway, LOTS of fluff in here, so please forgive me! Of course, then the fertilizer hits the proverbial air mover...**

*******RATED T: Umm, I don't want to give too much away, but I do need to warn you that there's some heavy – uh – heavy foreplay ahead. Descriptive words, don't read if you are squeamish. Please let me know if you think it should be an M rating.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty: Games

Roxanne and Megamind were like two love-crazed teenagers. They could not keep their hands off each other despite concerted efforts on both of their parts to do so, they just seemed to be unable to resist touching, kissing and flirting with each other. Eventually Minion got tired of listening to their antics and pressed the button on the dashboard to isolate the back seat, lowering the sound-proof divider and making the tint on the windows black completely out. Roxanne gasped when they were suddenly cast into total darkness. She heard her companion chuckle and felt him reach forward for something before a small light came on overhead. "What happened?"

"Minion decided we were in need of privacy. Or he was," he laughed again. He wasn't sure what he had done to deserve the attention she was giving to him now. It didn't feel real. He hoped that whatever spell she was under would never wear off.

"Well, since he went to the trouble, wouldn't we be negligent if we didn't take advantage?" she asked and smiled as she climbed into his lap, straddling her legs around his body, and planted her lips on his in a tender deep kiss that he eagerly returned. They were both glad to have the privacy, but she was insanely curious as to why he would need such a feature in his car. She would not accept that he had their current activities in mind when he'd added it to the car. She kissed his lower lip and pulled away to look into his eyes again. She noticed he'd dimmed the light since the last time her eyes were open. "So, Naren," she started but was interrupted when he kissed her suddenly. She smiled against his lips and pulled away again, waiting until she had his full attention on her eyes instead of her lips.

"So, um, why do you have this backseat set up to be completely isolated? Not that I don't see how useful it is," she kissed him quickly again, then continued, "But it doesn't seem like something you would ever really need."

"Well," he started as he rested his hands on her hips. It seemed a convenient place considering their position. "I wanted to be prepared in any circumstance for kidnappings. In case I didn't have the forget-me-stick and ran out of knock-out spray simultaneously. It was a random thought that crossed my mind when I was designing the car so I added it. So, believe it or not, this," he gestured with his hands to the windows and divider, "was actually put into the design with you in mind." His hands returned to her hips and tugged slightly to pull her closer to him. She scooted forward obligingly.

"Oh, really?" She ran her index finger down the tantalizing strip of black hair that graced his chin. "Just how long have you had this little desert charade planned? You did all this just to lure me into your clutches for your own nefarious purposes, didn't you?" she teased him, but the grin never left her face.

"But, of course, Miss Ritchi, and oh how it worked! You are now under my spell. I can make you do anything I want, even scream," he said with a flash of his manic evil smile. She laughed, which made his heart stutter in his chest before returning to the rapid beating it was doing before. Dear God, he loved the sound of her laughter.

"Yes, Master. Awaiting your command," she decided to play along to see how far he would take his little game. He was usually fun to play along with in their normal banter, so she was very interested to see how this was going to turn out.

He loved that she was always willing to rise to the occasion with their verbal sparring, and she seemed to be so willing to go along with his game now that he fully intended to enjoy this as much as possible. "I want you to kiss me." She kissed him on the nose, then sat back and grinned playfully. He pouted, "That's not what I meant."

"Perhaps Master should be more specific with his commands," she offered with a smirk.

The pout turned into a lopsided grin. "Oh, hoho! Temptress! Let's try this again, shall we. I want you to kiss me on the lips." She gave him a smooch on his lips and then sat back again with that same smirk and one eyebrow raised. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you? Two can play at that game, Miss Ritchi!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she insisted and slid off his lap to the side, although she did not move away from him at all.

"Oh, but you do." He decided to take the direct approach just to see if she was willing to do exactly what he said as before. He pulled the De-gun out of its holster and her eyes went wide. She hadn't been expecting that! He smiled at her reaction and tossed the gun on the floorboard. "I want you to remove my belt and holster." She involuntarily looked at his lap. "You have to undo it here first," he pointed to the strap that wrapped around his thigh.

Her hands moved up his leg from his knee toward the black leather strap that secured the holster to his leg, her fingers moving much higher than strictly necessary. She heard him gasp a little and smiled up at him before she moved her fingers back down to concentrate on the strap. She felt around the thing and found a buckle on the inside of his thigh. Her fingers immediately began undoing it, her hands brushing against his other leg and other more sensitive places as she worked. He felt a thrill of pleasure rush through him as she touched him so intimately without hesitation.

Once she'd undone the strap, her hands spread across each of his thighs and moved up toward the belt that hung on his almost non-existent hips, brushing against him again on the way past. She felt his stomach muscles tense when her fingers touched him as she worked to undo the belt buckle. It was accomplished with little effort and she grabbed the part of the belt that the holster was attached to and pulled it out from underneath him, showing him that she had completed her task. He took it from her and tossed it down next to the De-gun on the floorboard. He took her hands into his and kissed the back of one of them.

"Now, I want you to lie down on the seat here, on your back, and submit yourself to my undeclared whims." Roxanne gasped so hard she started coughing. He'd gone from idle to full throttle in seconds! She started laughing once she had stopped coughing. He pouted again, believing their game had concluded, but when he looked at her, she had a peculiar expression on her face.

"If Master would kindly move, I would be able to comply with his command," she said, still giggling at his forwardness. He didn't get what she was talking about at first because when he assumed their game was over, his mind had immediately moved on to other things. She sat there and looked at him expectantly until he finally put all of the pieces together and slid out of her way on the seat. She stretched her legs in front of her and scooted across the seat until she had enough room to lay her head against it, one knee was bent with her foot on the seat, and the other was flat against the seat with her foot on the floorboard, to allow him easy access to her.

He crawled on top of her as she smiled at him seductively, moving her leg up so she was effectively trapping him between her thighs, but not so much that he was not able to move. She didn't want to restrain him after all. Her arms reached toward him as he came closer and wrapped themselves around his shoulders, pulling his face down to hers and letting her capture his lips with her own. He returned her kiss as he settled himself on top of her, supporting his torso on his elbows. His pelvis rested against hers and his legs were stretched out with his knees bent back, his booted feet pushing on the window for more traction. He pulled away from her kiss and looked down at her with that adorable smirk he got on those rare occasions he one-upped her in their banter.

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Ritchi. I am the Spellmaster. I am in control," he said, continuing their game, his voice was a low purr. For her part, she just wanted to kiss him again, but he seemed to be enjoying their game immensely and she also wanted to make him happy, so she went with it. He, on the other hand, wanted to take his time and savor his new privileges. He started by trailing his lips all over her face, leaving warm little kisses as he went. He avoided her lips to taunt her since he knew that was the place she wanted him to kiss most. He kissed down her neck and the parts of her chest he could reach with the shirt there. His fingers itched to undo the buttons on her shirt and continue his exploration of her creamy smooth skin with its intoxicating smell, but he did not want to move too quickly.

She was impatient to have his lips on hers again; not that she wasn't enjoying his tender treatment and the tingling kisses he was leaving all over her throat, but she had been fighting the almost irresistable urge to tackle him to the ground and have her way with him for two whole days. That's why she'd kissed him every chance she'd had, craving the feel of his lips on hers like a drug she was addicted to after the first hit. She started to squirm underneath him to gain his attention. He misunderstood her behavior to mean that he had done something wrong and immediately stopped and hovered over her, looking at her with concern in his beautiful green eyes, their game forgotten.

"Roxanne, what's wrong?" His face was so close, their noses almost touching.

She stopped moving and met his gaze, "Kiss me."

"I thought I was kissing you," he sounded confused, bordering on slightly irritated.

"No, I mean _kiss _me," she said and he was about to respond that good things come to those who wait when she said the one word that made his willpower crumble to ashes. "Please." One could say that Roxanne Ritchi was begging Megamind for a kiss. One could, but one wouldn't dare, especially if one believed the moment would be killed by making such a comment. One would save it for later.

After gazing intently in her cool blue eyes for mere seconds, he closed his eyes and covered her mouth with his to kiss her with a fiery passion that rivaled the sun itself. She arched her back up into him and returned his kiss in kind, parting her lips to allow him access to her tongue. Her hands found their way up to his skull, gently massaging their way up his neck as she went. He moaned against her mouth, the sound causing a pleasant shiver to run down her spine. She made a mental note that his neck was particularly sensitive. She would have to explore that in more detail in the future. For now, she was content to just have his talented lips playing against hers again.

His tongue massaged hers as they devoured each other. His hands took hold of her, one at her face, his long dexterous fingers massaging into her hair while the other found its way underneath her and pressed on her back to make sure he was touching as much of her body with his as he could. He began to rock back and forth as he rubbed himself against her as he had before in the motel. The sensation of the inside of her jeans rubbing against her unprotected femininity caused her to press her pelvis into him more than before, wanting the satisfaction that the hardness she felt there would certainly bring.

His fingers found their way up to her blouse and began to undo the buttons so he could have the access to kiss her chest that he wanted. He wasted no time in kissing down her neck and onto her chest, trailing his lightest kisses along the round silky cups of the bra holding in her perfect breasts, his knees bent into the seat and his but rising up and pulling himself away from her slightly. Her hands wrapped themselves around his neck and massaged the base of his skull gently, wishing he would remove the costume so she could have similar access to his warm blue chest. Her fingers found their way up his chest and began to pull on the neck of his suit. She felt him chuckle against her chest. He pulled away a little, settled his hips back between hers and looked down at her.

"How do you get this thing off?" she asked out of impatient frustration.

He smiled and said, "It stretches, all the way down. You pull it off by grabbing it at the shoulders and pulling it down. She wasted no time at all in doing so, having it pulled around his shoulders and part way down his arms and chest in no time.

"Wow, it stretches easily. That's good to know." She had it pulled down completely off of his arms and to his waist quickly and found herself unable to keep her hands off of him now that his skin was so entrancingly close. She kissed down his neck and onto his narrow but muscular chest. He was stronger than he looked, the musculature being tighter and lither than the costume let on. Her hands were all over his stomach and back as she kissed her way down to his pectoral muscles, pleased to find two pert indigo nipples there for her to play with. Her tongue could not resist flicking one, then sucking on it a little before kissing it and moving to give the other the same treatment. He moaned as she kissed him all over relishing in her eager attention to him.

Lost in each other as they were, neither of them heard the muffled knocking sound coming from the front seat of the car. Static came over a small intercom in the side panel and a voice finally penetrated their bubble. "Sir, I hate to disturb you, but we have a bit of a situation that needs your attention."

Megamind let out an exasperated sigh which elicited a giggle from Roxanne. He looked down at her with a smirk on his face and kissed her nose before responding to his friend, "What is it, Minion?" His voice was dripping with annoyance at having any interruption to their activities.

"There is a road block set up a few miles ahead. Five twelve detected that they are using infrared scanners. I think they are waiting for us, Sir."

Megamind knew as well as Minion that with infrared vision, anyone would see the invisible car approach, since the cloak only masked the visible light spectrum. He gently moved off of Roxanne so she could sit up, then sat himself next to her with an apologetic look on his face. They would certainly have to pick up where they left off later. He pulled his arms through the suit and worked it back up onto his shoulders while Roxanne rebuttoned her shirt and combed her fingers through her hair. He smiled at her and she couldn't resist leaning in for another kiss. He kissed her back eagerly but pulled back quickly because he knew the serious nature of the situation they were likely facing. He looked into her eyes, so beautifully blue, then pressed his lips to hers briefly before pulling away completely.

After making sure that Roxanne was situated to her satisfaction, he pressed a hidden button on the speaker and spoke up, "You can raise the divider, Minion." Mere seconds later, the tint on the windows disappeared the divider folded in on itself and disappeared into the ceiling of the car. Roxanne suddenly felt exposed despite the fact that she was still fully clothed and the car was still invisible. She was still 'turned on' from the activity that had abruptly ended. "Pull the car over for a moment," he said in a calm voice. The road was deserted in their vicinity and Minion was able to pull onto the sandy shoulder with ease. He put the car in park and turned his little body around in the dome tank to face his two passengers.

"Sir, you know they will see us coming. The gathering of military personnel is still five miles away. They know we are coming this way, but I don't think they know what we are traveling in, although they seem to be prepared to intercept whatever is heading their way."

"Does the GPS show any alternate routes around the blockade?" Roxanne asked helpfully.

"Not unless we want to go off-road," the fish replied. Both Megamind and he knew that the chassis of the invisible car was not designed with off-roading in mind. The car rode low to the ground and the street tires had trouble keeping traction in sand or other loose material. Not to mention the fact that they would likely kick up a large cloud of dust and sand in their wake if they drove through the sand because of the poor traction. It was just not a feasible use of the available equipment. They had to think of something else.

"Wait. How did they find us?" Megamind asked after a moment. He worked out the problem by thinking out loud, "They don't know about the car, so they couldn't be tracking that. What else did they have access to?" He gasped suddenly. "Minion, they must have put a tracking device in your suit." The fish gasped loudly. He held out his robotic hands and examined them as best he could. Megamind began his own close examination of the fur-covered metal body. He checked every nook and cranny for whatever transmitter they had attached, eventually locating the small device underneath the main filter housing unit on the back of the suit.

"Sir, I didn't know that was there."

"I know, Minion, this couldn't possibly be your fault. Now, what shall we do with this?" He considered their options for a moment then said, "Is Five-twelve still nearby?"

"Yes, Sir. It's standing by." He pushed a button on the dashboard to summon the bot. It flew in the window as Minion lowered it.

Megamind looked at the little bot that had been such a tremendous help in their rescue of Minion and subsequent escape from Area 51. He was almost reluctant to send it on this mission for fear that it may never come back, but he had no other options. He affixed the tracking device to one of the bot's pincers and gave it instructions, "Five-twelve, I want you to go back to the crash site. Follow the road, do not deviate unless your unit is in danger. When you get there, leave this in the hole, then return Home. Understand?"

"Bowg." Her earlier protector and guide flew out the same window it had flown in and took off down the road in the opposite direction that they had been traveling.

"Well, it's a start. I highly doubt it will make them break the roadblock, they'd be stupid to give up completely on the route we were last headed, just in case we still come through without Minion's suit, but it will hopefully divide their forces. We still need a plan to get around or past the stop," Megamind's brow was furrowed as he thought about possibilities. He began to feel the pressure of having no options creeping into his normally eternal optimism.

"I have an idea," Roxanne said suddenly. She had been thinking about the problem and the situation seemed remarkably similar to the one they'd faced the previous day when escaping from the base. "I don't think they know who I am. At least not in relation to you guys, so I could drive us through the blockade with no trouble. We'd just have to be visible so it wouldn't raise suspicion." Megamind did not like where this was going. The idea of putting her in harm's way again made him very apprehensive. "You both would have to be dehydrated again, of course. I mean, not to be redundant, but it seems like it would work again."

"Wait. I was dehydrated?" Minion asked abruptly.

"Yes, you were. It was the only way to escape. He was too," she gestured to her blue companion and smiled at the fish. "You have to admit that this is the best option we have right now."

"Sir, she has a point."

"Thank you, Minion. The risks are…"

"Unacceptable. Look, if they do already know you are involved with us escaping, you will have become of interest to them. They will take you in for questioning and probably impound the car, and then they'll find our cubes and all of it will be for naught! They can make you disappear." The deep sense of foreboding that stole into his heart when he thought of Roxanne at the mercy of the faceless men was not something he could just ignore. "No, this isn't going to work, Roxanne," he seemed to have lost hope completely, but mostly he was just terrified that something would happen to her while he was unable to do anything about it. He wanted to just take her and run, despite all they had been through to get home. He wanted to give up when they were so close. Her eyes searched his, looking for a way to make him see she was right.

"It has to work." She couldn't let him just quit. She felt as if everything in her life depended on making sure she kept him free and alive. She would willingly risk her life to keep what she'd discovered along this life changing journey.

"Roxanne, this is so much more dangerous than the situation before. Why do you want me to agree to this so badly? Why take so much risk?" Her eyes searched his as her heart quickly took control of her mouth and she told him exactly why she needed to do this.

"Because somewhere in the middle of all of this, I fell in love with you." He looked at her with confusion prevalent on his face. "Do you understand what I am telling you? I love you," her eyes searched his for a long moment as she let her words sink in. Neither of them noticed the fish in the front seat watching the entire encounter with eyes wide and mouth open. "I need you. I can't lose you now, I feel like I really just found you, Naren. I have to do this, for us. Please let me try." Megamind's intense green eyes searched back and forth between each of her sky blue ones for a long intense moment, allowing his brain to catch up. He was too stunned to respond at first because it was the first time anyone had ever said they loved him. The fact that it was the most perfect woman in the world who'd been the first person to say it made the words have that much more meaning to him.

He smiled genuinely at her and swallowed to try to dislodge the lump that had suddenly materialized in his throat. He was silent for a moment before he finally spoke, "Okay, Roxanne. If you think you can pull this off, then I trust you to get us to safety again. We don't really have any other non-violent options. Just please don't take any chances." He wasted no time in retrieving the De-gun from its location on the floorboard and handing it to her, having a déjà vu feeling. The pieces were certainly the same, but somehow the stakes were much, much higher this time around. He just hoped the bet wasn't too high for them to call.


	21. Everything to Lose

**a/n: Sorry shorter chapter this time. Review and let me know what you think! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-one: Everything to Lose

As Roxanne drove down the road in the late afternoon toward the inevitability of the encounter with the faceless people who would stop at nothing to get their hands on her blue love and his best friend, she worried about the things that Megamind had said. She was no less frightened of the possibility than he was, having her heart on the line the way it was. The desperation in his eyes when they'd said good-bye right before she reduced him to a glowing blue cube was heart breaking. She would rather have remembered the look on his face when she'd said she loved him, but their farewell was all her mind could recall.

"_Sorry we have to do this Minion," Roxanne said. The fish smiled warmly at her, ever the optimistic one. He was certain the plan would work. She pulled the trigger and the bulky suit with Minion inside was reduced into the familiar compact shape. She dropped her hand that was holding the gun in her lap and looked at the man she loved sitting next to her._

_He looked so nervous and uncomfortable, mirroring the exact way she felt, and she again experienced the overwhelming desire to make his pain go away. She reached her arms forward and wrapped him in a tender hug. He responded without hesitation this time and she squeezed him harder, tears forming in her eyes. She knew she was gambling everything on a possibility, but it was the only way to get him past them. She felt him pull back a little from her and sat up herself. One of his hands rested on her hip and the other came up to cup her cheek. He leaned forward and kissed her soundly, stealing her breath as he had already stolen her heart. His kiss was intense, almost as if he felt that it might be the last time his lips would ever touch hers. He pulled back again and made sure to make eye contact with her. "I love you, Roxanne." _

_That time she'd kissed him, her arms wrapping securely around his shoulders, not wanting to ever let him go. He leaned into her kiss for a few scarce moments and then pulled away, removing her arms from his shoulders with surprising but gentle strength. He looked into her eyes, his emotions right there on the surface for her to see, and said, "Please be careful." Before she could stop him, his hand that had been on her hip moved to grab the De-gun. He picked it up out of her lap and pointed it at his own chest, pulling the trigger himself before he could change his mind._

She'd sighed heavily and picked up the little cube to put it in a safe place, back into the pocket it had been in during their previous escape, then climbed into the front seat and put Minion's cube into the other pocket. She'd deactivated the cloak the way Minion had showed her and the car was now visible as she approached the roadblock. The gun was stowed in the glove box with its holster. The cars in the blockade were all unmarked and the people milling around seemed to be nervous as she slowed down. No doubt, these guys had heard stories about the blue alien and his uncanny knack for destruction, in addition to what they'd experienced only yesterday at the same alien's hands. She'd used the minutes since she started driving to concoct a likely story for why she was driving a car that looked the way it did. She sincerely hoped they were not familiar with this particular creation of Megamind's.

She couldn't recall ever having actually seen the invisible car aside from the tell-tale shimmer she now knew to look for. Megamind had been convinced that there was no possible way they could have seen the car before because they'd never driven it outside the Lair without the cloak activated. In fact, she even hadn't seen it, although being that it was Megamind's car, she knew it was probably black and chrome and decked in spikes. She figured out what to say if they asked about the unique sytling of the car, as they inevitably would. She hoped her story was convincing enough to let her pass. She pulled up to the uniformed man standing on the side of the road who motioned for her to stop. She did and lowered the window. The skinny man had a narrow face and a square jaw with unremarkable features other than the thick mustache riding atop his upper lip. There did not seem to be any name on the soldier's uniform which struck her as odd since every soldier she'd ever met had their name patch sewn on their uniform permanently. This concerned her greatly but she swallowed her fear down and steeled herself for whatever was to come.

"Ma'am, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I need you to tell me where you are going." He bent down to look at her, his mustache turning down at the corners. "Wait. Aren't you that reporter? What's your name? Roseann Rishey, right?"

Her heart stopped and she gaped at him. Not good. She inwardly slapped herself for thinking this plan would work twice in the same week. But, there was no sense denying who she was. She was a public persona after all; she hoped she would still be able to make her cover story work even though her identity was known. She prayed that this man's knowing who she was didn't mean that they'd made the connection between the incident earlier and her presence here now, or that the person knew so much about her that they'd spot a fake story about herself. He'd gotten her name wrong, so she highly doubted he was a devoted fan. "Roxanne Ritchi, actually. And I am going back to Metro City, Michigan." The younger man gave a sharp nod, apparently giving a signal to someone watching from afar.

The mustached man eyed her strangely. "Ma'am, can I see your ID, please?"

Her eyes went wide. She had not had her purse when Megamind had kidnapped her, so her ID was most likely sitting in her wallet safely in her apartment. Think, Roxanne! "It's packed in my suitcase. Are you really going to make me find it?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes, "Oh, come on. You know who I am, don't you?" She offered the man a small smile.

The mustache curled downward as the man frowned slightly despite the star-struck look in his eyes. Okay, so maybe he wasn't a big fan at all. She was glad she'd taken the time to think of a story as she drove so she'd have most of the details worked out before this inevitable line of questioning. Nothing gave away a made up story more than hesitating while answering questions. She answered with the practiced ease of the experienced reporter she'd become over the years. After a moment of listening to someone talking in his earpiece, he spoke again. "Haven't you been missing for several days, ma'am? Can you please tell me where you are coming from, where you've been?"

Her heart stopped momentarily. Okay, so the guy, or at least someone on the other end of that ear-piece, was more familiar with her story than she would have liked. She decided to carry on with her cover story in hopes that it was convincing enough. "I was visiting my brother in Nebraska. He's been sick and I was helping take care of him. I had to take off suddenly because he had an emergency and he has no one else to take care of him. I've been there this whole time. But, he's on the mend now and I am doing him a favor because I was going back to the city anyway. This is actually his car." She congratulated herself on her quick thinking. She hadn't thought that far into the story, but since he'd brought it up, it fit with her sudden disappearance too. It was good that she knew how to think on her feet.

The man interrupted her self-congratulations, "And, what is your brother's name?"

She said the only name she could think of. "Naren."

"His full name, please," the man said sternly, apparenly losing patience with her easy demeanor.

She sighed. She hoped she was right about the name the car was registered in just in case they checked. "Naren Aakil." The man repeated the name. "He's my step-brother, actually. I am taking it back to the city for him because he found someone there who wants to buy it, but he's still not feeling up to the trip. I live there so I thought I would help. Is that a crime?" her tone was more biting than strictly necessary, but if she was not involved the way she was and just an innocent motorist on the road, she expected all of these personal questions would be getting on anyone's nerves as well. She banked on that as she responded to the next several of the mustached man's questions.

"Why did you not tell anyone where you were? There have been news stories about your disappearance."

She almost felt flattered. Almost. "I don't have to report where I am to anyone! I had a family emergency! Someone could have called me to find out, but no one ever did. They knew my brother's phone number!" She had run much further with her story than she'd initially prepared for, but it seemed to come easily once she'd set up the basis of the lie.

She was insanely curious what the media had been saying about her latest disappearance. It was the longest one yet, and Megamind had been gone the entire time too, so she was sure everyone would have assumed it was a kidnapping. That was something she hadn't considered yet in her desire to go back home. She'd been gone for nearly a week with no explanation to any of her friends, family or...her job. Oof. She inwardly winced at the thought of the tongue lashing she would face from her boss, if she even still had a job for the guy to care enough to yell at her. She could be putting everything at risk and going back to nothing at all, except for what was in the car with her.

"Can you tell me about this buyer you are going to meet?"

She felt her hands clench. The buyer! She hadn't thought about the damn buyer! Careless oversight, but she thought of something quickly. "He's uh...he's an inventor and has a taste for things like this. All I know other than that is he that has black hair. He's supposed to know what the car looks like. He's my brother's friend. I told you I am just delivering the car since I was coming home anyway."

The wound up underling looked at her skeptically after several more minutes of Q and A. He wasn't buying her story, at least he didn't seem to be based on the questions he was asking, but she couldn't really tell since his expression had not really changed the entire time they'd been talking. And she couldn't see his mouth behind the mustache. He began to study the car itself. She started to panic some then. Why did she think this would work again? This was just stupid, she was so close to freedom she could taste it. She had to get them out of this, it felt as if her life depended on it. "This is a very unique car, ma'am." His voice caused her to startle a bit and she desperately hoped he hadn't noticed. She exhaled quietly and kept her voice calm with a great amount of effort.

"It is, he customized it," she smirled up at him. "I can't believe he actually found someone that wants to buy it, but I guess everyone has their own taste," so far her cover story was holding. She offered the young man a smile and asked, "Can I please pass? I have an appointment with the buyer and I would really rather not be late. He's a very busy man and hard to nail down for a meeting. My brother really needs the money to pay for the doctor he had to see. Come on, cut me a break, will ya?" The man bent down to look into the car and saw that it was entirely empty except for the driver. He walked around the car and looked in all of the windows and then stepped back over to the driver's side where Roxanne sat waiting impatiently.

She was glad that all of the gadgets they had installed in the car had the ability to be hidden when desired. Megamind thought of everything when he wasn't making machines of pure destruction, didn't he? And even then, she was now convinced that most of the failures she'd ever seen were entirely due to Metro Man's presence. The inventions themselves, it seems, usually worked perfectly until the hero interfered. The military man stood next to her open window for a very long time having a convesation in hushed tones with whoever was on the other end of the ear piece. Roxanne began to feel like the jig was up despite all her careful thought. They knew who she was already and she was only moments away from being arrested, having her new love torn away from her and possibly losing everything else in the process.

The man suddenly tensed up and placed his hand against his ear. "What do you mean, headed back toward the site?" A pause. "Yes, General." Another pause, "I was questioning the driver as ordered." Then the man looked back at Roxanne. "I am sorry, Miss. We will clear out momentarily." He turned and jogged back to the vehicles acting as the blockade, got in one of the Jeeps and in mere moments, the road was completely clear. She'd felt the eyes of one older stern man in particular on her as the other vehicles drove past, but kept her gaze pointed straight ahead, afraid to be unnerved when she was so close to being free.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, as soon as they were clear of her position, she slammed the gas pedal to the floor and took off down the road, finally exhaling the breath she didn't realize she ,had been holding. She drove for several miles, just to be sure it wasn't seen before she finally pulled activated the cloak and sped upeven more. After that, she drove as fast as she could down the road until the light had completely disappeared from the setting sun. She found a quiet little church just off the road and pulled into its abandoned parking lot. She reached into the back seat and retrieved the bottle of water she'd been drinking from earlier, then got out of the car, leaving the door open and using the light coming from the car. It was surreal to see the inside of a car open from thin air. She pulled the cube from her left pocket and placed it down on the ground, then tipped a bit of water out of the bottle. She watched as the cube shimmered and popped up into the big-headed blue body of the man she loved. She couldn't resist wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug and saying, "I missed you," despite the fact that it had been a few hours since she'd seen him last.

He hugged her back closely and said, "I guess we made it."

"Your distraction worked like a charm. In the middle of them asking me questions trying to find a reason to search the car, they just left suddenly." She kissed his lips, then pulled back and looked at him lovingly. "We make a great team, Naren."

"We do, don't we?" He smiled that genuine smile that was already her favorite. "I love you."

"And, I love you," she said with a smile on her face as she leaned in again. They shared another brief kiss but Roxanne remembered that Minion was still dehydrated and she was certain there would be plenty of time for them to be with each other later. She kissed him one more time on the lips for posterity before she pulled the other cube from her pocket and placed it on the ground, tipping a large drop of water onto it.

The fish in his ape-robot suit reappeared with a smile on his own face, hoping that his being rehydrated was a good sign. When he saw his boss and Miss Ritchi in front of him, he grinned widely. "We made it!" he exclaimed excitedly. The two shorter people looked up at him with happy smiles. Megamind patted his friend on the shoulder.

"We're not out of this just yet, Minion. Let's get going!"

"Yes, Sir," the fish said as he hurried to get into the driver's seat. Megamind walked to the other side of the car and opened the passenger door, moving the seat out of the way for Roxanne. She climbed in and he followed her, pulling the door shut behind him and sitting the front seat back up once he was seated in the back. Minion pulled the car back onto the road and resumed their course home. Roxanne wrapped her arms around Megamind held onto him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap so he could hold her easier. Neither of the two of them feeling the need to say anything and both enjoying the simplicity of the closeness they shared. The stress of the past few days and the issues they were surely going to face with their unorthodox relationship in the public eye of Metro City were not something either of them had any desire to let interfere with their time together at present. They were both content to just be in the present for now.


	22. Intrusion

**a/n: We're winding down to a close with this story, sad to say. Only a few chapters left after this one. Thanks to those who suggested I change the rating. I wasn't sure if it was too much myself. I changed it due to that chapter, this one and a later one. Just to be safe. You'll see... Oh, to quote Coldplay, "A simple plot, but I know one day, Good things are coming our way" so please let me know if you think they should just get a happy ending or have to make one for themselves. I am curious to find out what you think about where this should go in the end.**

**~~Reposted to fix my messup in the first paragraph. Thanks to nineteenninetytwo for pointing it out. Sorry about that, everyone!**

******* Please note the rating change. RATED M: Disturbing dream imagery ahead, in more than one way. Please don't read the italic text if you are squeamish or too young.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-two: Intrusion

The remainder of their trip passed uneventfully as they were only about two hours outside of the city when Roxanne had pulled the car over to rehydrate her companions. All three travellers were exhausted from their long journey so when Minion asked Roxanne where she wanted to go, she'd said the first thing that came to her mind, "Please take me to my apartment, Minion." She wanted to stay with Megamind, but she really wanted to take a bath and put on fresh clothes. In the end, personal comfort and cleanliness won out over her desire to stay by his side.

Megamind had hoped she would want to stay with him given the direction their relationship had gone, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. She probably would want some time to herself since she'd been stuck with him for the last several days. Really, she just wanted to take a shower in her own bathroom and put on fresh clothes. As Minion pulled up to the building in the alley where the trash was collected, he stopped the car and put it in park. Megamind exited the car by climbing into the front seat and getting out of the passenger door, then he moved the seat out of the way for her to get out behind him.

Once they were standing on the road, she pulled him into a tender hug and held him tightly for several long moments. He held onto her just as tightly. A part of her felt like once she walked into her building, everything would go back to the way it was before and the beautiful miracle she'd found would just go away. Her lips found his and for a small eternity, they were the only two people in the world.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from him. "I want to see you tomorrow," she said looking into his eyes.

"Yeah, okay. I'd like that." He paused for a moment, then said, "I'll come get you at Noon, okay?" She nodded and hugged him again, still reluctant to let go. Knowing that neither of them was going to be the one to end their embrace, she finally had to tear herself away from him and once she had, she had to keep walking or her resolve would wane. She walked away toward the front door, then she looked back at him, their eyes connecting for a short eternity, before she turned the corner to walk to the entrance to her apartment building. He watched her go until well after she'd turned the corner, then got back into the car next to Minion and said, "Let's go home."

* * *

><p>As she walked into the building for the first time in almost a week, she received a look of mild shock from her door man. "Uh. G-Good evening, Miss Ritchi."<p>

"Good night, Carlos," she said as she walked past him quickly, heading directly for the elevator. She would rather not have to explain where she'd been to the man, or anyone else for that matter. She knew she would have to eventually, but just then, she just couldn't. She stood in the elevator as it travelled up the shaft to her floor, and she felt lonely and cold. She leaned against the wall of the elevator car, unconsciously wrapping her arms around herself, letting her mind just wander uninhibited. It was bringing up images of his eyes, his smile, recalling the secure feeling of his warm arms wrapped around her and the euphoric feeling of his lips against hers. The smile on her face was dreamy as the ding let her know the car had stopped. She was grateful the hall was not crowded and made her way quickly down to her apartment door.

She retrieved the spare key from the door jamb where she always hid it and opened the door, stepping in and making sure to lock it behind her. The darkness of the room she'd entered was somewhat comforting to her and she didn't turn any lights on as she walked straight to her bedroom to get clean. It felt extremely strange to be back in her orderly apartment after being gone for so long, and after everything she thought she knew about the people in her life had been so thoroughly . It seemed almost like another lifetime the last time she had been here. She took the time to carefully remove the head wrap he'd made for her out of her undershirt at the beginning of their trek and placed it on her dresser; she would hand wash it later so she could keep the ruined garment as a souvenir of the journey that had changed her life.

The rest of her clothes, she stripped off and left in a heap on the floor as she turned on the light in her bathroom and started the hot water running. She thought about just burning those clothes. They were caked in sand and sweat and she couldn't imagine it was going to be easy to get the smell and stains out of the fabrics. Given what she'd gained, the wasted outfit was a small price to pay. She turned the flow of the water to the shower setting and stepped into the tub, standing under the hot water. She scrubbed every inch of her skin with the shower poof, shampooed her hair twice and then rinsed all of the soap off of her skin. Once she was satisfied that the water ran clean, she put the stopper in the drain and changed the water flow to the tub. She sat on the edge of the tub and dumped some of the bath crystals she kept in a dish on the back of her toilet in the water. The fragrance that greeted her was floral and had a hint of chamomile, just the stuff to relax.

She let the water fill the tub up about two thirds of the way full and then sank herself into the welcoming hot water. All of the tension in her body melted away as she concentrated on each group of muscles and made them relax. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the vinyl pillow that was attached to the side of the tub with suction cups. As she relaxed, she found her eyelids getting heavy.

_She saw his eyes before she saw anything else. He was so close and those tantalizing eyes were half-lidded in pleasure. She felt his warm lips toying with hers as he settled himself between her legs. She felt his stiffness rub against her. She wanted him. He positioned himself over her, supporting his weight with his elbows as he looked her directly in the eyes. He joined their two bodies as nature intended and she felt more complete than she ever had before with any man. He truly fit with her, like they both had been designed that way. His eyes looked in hers with such longing, like he desperately wanted the dream to be real. She picked her head up to kiss his tempting lips. She felt his hands all over her bare skin, worshiping her as he made love to her. She felt herself beginning to build up to her climax, which had never happened during sex with any other man, and his rhythm increased at the same time, as if his own release was also imminent__. She felt him grip her tighter as he shuddered in time with the contractions in her body caused by her own rapture. He collapsed against her in a panting sweaty heap and she held him close, closing her eyes and reveling in the afterglow._

_Suddenly, she found herself in a cold unfamiliar room, restrained by her wrists and ankles, and lying flat on her back. The surface she was tied to was cold and hard and there was an overhead light that was too bright for her eyes, causing her to squint to try to see at all. She could not see the walls of the room because the spotlight she was under prevented her from seeing anything in the darkness beyond the circle it created around her. She could hear indistinct voices in the distance. The room smelled like fresh antiseptic and burned in her nose. Where was the dream she'd been having before this? She wanted that one back desperately._

_She struggled to see anything she could in the cold darkness. She saw her own body as her head, the only part of her that was not restrained, raised and looked down at herself. She was extremely startled to see a large round protrusion from her gut and wires of all sorts stuck to her skin in the vicinity. Panic stole into her heart and she started to struggle in vain against the bonds that held her to the table. Everything inside her told her she was in mortal danger. As she fought against her restraints, she became aware of a maniacal cackling that grew louder and more menacing the longer it permeated the air with its malevolence. It sounded like pure evil._

_Suddenly another light came on some distance away. It illuminated a table with another body strapped to it. She didn't have to look hard to recognize the blue skin of the other person. He was restrained in the same way she was and he looked at her with so much pain in his defeated eyes, his seemingly endless supply of energy stolen from him. His face was cut and bruised and his lip was split, dried blood stained his chin, and his unclothed body had fared no better. She realized that they had him because they had her. Her heart seized in her chest. She realized with utter horror that they were torturing him by making him watch whatever they were going to do to her. A feeling of dread settled over her because she somehow knew she was not going to survive. They were going to kill her right in front of the one person who would be hurt the most. She struggled more against her bonds until she felt an intense pain in her stomach that made her want to vomit._

_The cackling was joined by low buzzing hum of a large crowd of people waiting for something in unison, all talking in hushed voices. In her peripheral vision, she saw a__ figure approached from the darkness and she tore her gaze away from the heartbreaking form on the other table. The faceless man stepped up to the far end of the table. It was then that she realized her feet were restrained in stirrups. She looked back to the other table as the faceless man went about his business, losing herself in the pained green eyes as the world slowly went black around her, but she felt no pain at all anymore, somehow her mind was disconnected from the rest of her body. She became aware of two presences in the room that had not been there before, but they were not sinister in any way. _

_She looked away from the eyes that twisted her heart and found two perfect chubby faced large headed blue babies being taken quickly away from her. Each one looked at her with astonishing intelligence, one with her blue eyes, the other his green. She felt her life draining from her and desperately looked for the green eyes that made her heart beat and found them looking panic-stricken. If it was possible he looked like he was in more pain than before. She felt herself slipping away as the darkness closed in around her. Her eyes closed and she heard him let out a forlorn, angry howl like none she'd ever heard before, "Nooooo!" She closed her eyes again as she sank into the cold blackness of death._

Her leg slipped off the side of the tub and landed in the water with a loud splash. Roxanne awoke with a start as the now cold water splashed on her air dried skin. She sat up in the water and her hands immediately went to her stomach, wishing for a moment that there had been a protrusion and that the two beautiful babies she'd seen were safe with her. She tried to catch her breath as hot tears poured down her face. She sobbed out loud in the quiet bathroom, not bothering to restrain herself. She wrapped her arms around her knees to hold herself together as she cried herself out. It was a long time before she realized she was shivering violently from the cold water.

She pulled out the plug and stood up in the tub, still shivering and crying. The dream stuck with her like no dream she'd ever had before. She couldn't stop seeing his beaten body helplessly tied to the table. She could not shake the image of the small helpless babies that were torn away from her just before she'd died. As she thought about it, a fresh bout of sobs wracked her body and she shakily reached for the towel hanging on the bar next to the tub. She wrapped herself in the fluffy terry cloth and stepped out of the tub. She examined her toes and fingers and found that they were shriveled from too much water exposure. She stared at her reflection in her mirror. Her eyes looked haunted and she could not stop the tears that still streamed down her face.

She walked into her bedroom to put on some night clothes, still sniffling and wiping her eyes. Her breath occasionally hitched in her throat as she gathered the yoga pants and tank top she usually wore to bed and put them on without thinking about it. Once dressed, she grabbed a blanket off the end of her queen-sized bed and made her way into her living room, turning on and dimming the light as she went. The wall clock told her that it was well after the hour decent people were asleep, but she just couldn't help it. There was not going to be any sleep for her as long as the horrific imagery plagued her every time she closed her eyes. She needed to see Megamind to know that he was not broken and beaten. She sat on her couch and curled into a ball with her knees up by her chest and her arms wrapped securely around them. As the silence descended around her, the images of the dream came unbidden to the forefront of her mind even though her eyes were firmly open, and a fresh sob escaped her lips. At that moment, she heard a loud bang on her balcony followed by a less than polite knock. She pulled the blanket around her more securely and stood up from the couch padding over to the door of her balcony. The blinds were shut so she could not see who it was, although she hoped that Megamind had gotten impatient and was coming to see her sooner than planned.

She opened the door with a half smile on her face which fell off completely when she saw the white and gold clad figure standing there. She really did not want to deal with him right then. He, of course, knew better than she did and forced his way in out of concern. "Oh my gosh, Roxie, where have you been?" he started, then seemed to see that she had been crying and became angry, "What did he do to you?"

"It's nothing," she said dismissively wanting nothing more than to be rid of his presence. He was most decidedly not needed and she didn't understand at all why he was there, forgetting for a moment that she'd been gone for almost a week. She turned and walked back to her couch, sitting down in the same position she'd been in before.

"It's not nothing, Roxie, look at you. You are obviously a mess. Tell me what he did to you so I can make sure he pays."

"I had a bad dream, Wayne, that's all, now stop being so overprotective," she said with a stronger voice than she felt. She refused to let her sometimes dense friend think he was going to rescue her from anything, and especially not Megamind. Why could he not just leave?

"You had a bad dream? For the last four and a half days? I may not be as smart as Megamind, Roxie, but that's a bit of a stretch," his concern turned into disapproval and she rolled her eyes. She did smile involuntarily when his name was spoken, wishing she was with him and not Wayne just then. "You disappeared at the same time he did, so I assume he kidnapped you and this means he's back too. So, I ask you again: what did he do to you? Why were you gone for so long? And, why were you crying like that?"

She'd been prepared to answer his first two questions in a way he was not going to like, being that she was extremely cranky at being disturbed by someone so insistent on her answering questions at all. But, when he asked the last question, it stopped her short. "Crying like what? Wayne Scott, were you spying on me?"

He was taken aback by the amount of anger in her voice. "I, uh- I had been keeping an eye out for you since you disappeared Monday afternoon," he said nervously, "and then I heard sounds in your apartment. So, I came to investigate and I saw you crying in your bathroom." She hit him as hard as she could with her fist in his square jaw. He didn't move and she yelped as her knuckles crunched and pain raced up her arm.

Through gritted teeth, she laid into him as she held her hurt hand against her body, "How dare you spy on me like that! That is a complete invasion of my privacy! What are you, some kind of super-powered peeping tom?" She shoved at him as hard as she could with her good hand. He let her move him, not understanding why she was so angry at him for being concerned about his friend. "Megamind would never have done such a perverted thing as spy on a lady in her bath and he's the villain in this stupid game. Oh, you just wait until I tell your mother what you did, Wayne Scott! I can't believe you!" She screamed at him as loud as her still dry lungs would let her. "I've never felt so violated in my entire life and I've been his repeat captive for over a decade!" Then she was silent as she stared at him with a death gaze. When she spoke again, her voice was low and there was no room for question, "Get. Out." He didn't move away and actually tried to move forward to hug her, since she was obviously distraught and in need of comfort. She backed away from him and yelled angrily, "Get out now!"

Finally, she broke through to him and he turned quickly, sped out the door and took off. She felt the tears come back to her eyes, but this time they were tears of anger. She was so angry at the supposed hero for not only spying on her the way he had but also for assuming that she'd been hurt in some way by a person who would never harm a hair on her head. She was instantly frustrated that she had no way to contact him and wished that he would just show up like he always did when he was kidnapping her.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes earlier, at the Lair, Megamind sat up on his couch screaming, "Noooo!" Minion rushed into the curtained area to find his master distraught and panicked. Megamind tried unsuccessfully to sit still and recover his emotions from the worst nightmare he'd ever had. But, he'd never seen anything that tore at his heart so much as the image of Roxanne's pregnant body being gutted to remove his own offspring so the faceless men could take his children off into the shadows. She'd bled to death right there in front of him. This was by far the worst torture his subconscious mind had ever subjected him to, taking an errant wish and warping it into such a twisted nightmare.<p>

Minion looked at his friend with concern but did not approach the erratic alien. His face was haunted and his eyes were bloodshot, which accomplished the almost impossible feat of making his bright green eyes appear even greener. He was breathing in startled pants like he was sobbing silently, and he looked scared to death. The sight made Minion feel afraid for his friend. There had been some very bad nightmares in the past, but he had never seen the blue man this upset after one.

"Sir, are you okay?"

Megamind sighed and forced his face to relax its features although he couldn't quite chase away the haunted look his eyes had. "Yes, Minion, just another nightmare. I had forgotten how bad they were," he said to reassure the fish. In reality, he knew the dream had been the scariest one he'd ever experienced. He could not get the image of Roxanne strapped to a cold metal table bleeding out of his head. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and reassure himself that it had only been a dream. That she was still alive and breathing. He slowed his heart rate to a more reasonable speed by his exercizing a considerable effort to control his breathing and before long, he was able to appear composed again. His troubled mind was far from settled. "Minion, I think I am going to go for a ride. Maybe the night air will help to clear my head."

Minion nodded, knowing exactly where his boss intended to go and having no desire to stop him. The blue alien stood and made his way out of the sleeping area, flinging the curtain out of his way in the process. He rushed to his hoverbike and kick-started it before pushing off the ground and zooming out the garage door Minion had opened for him.


	23. Only You

**a/n: Longest Chapter yet! Enjoy! At least two more chapters after this one, not sure if there will be any more.**

******* RATED M: Roxanne and Megamind alone in her apartment after almost five days of foreplay. You get where I am going with this I am sure, so BE WARNED! I still don't think it is all that bad, but rated for safety.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-three: Only You

As Megamind approached the building he knew to be Roxanne's, he slowed the hoverbike to a crawl and then hovered for a moment before landing on the roof. He got off his bike and walked to the edge of the roof. Just as he was about to descend to her balcony, he caught a flash of white and gold get there first. He ducked out of sight and waited, hoping he could avoid the hero and a trip to jail when all he wanted was to see Roxanne. He could hear their loud conversation floating out of the open doors just below.

"You had a bad dream? For the last four and a half days? I may not be as smart as Megamind, Roxie, but that's a bit of a stretch." Megamind snorted. That buffoon wasn't even close to being on the same planet as his intellect. "You disappeared at the same time he did, so I assume he kidnapped you and this means he's back too. So, I ask you again: what did he do to you? Why were you gone for so long? And, why were you crying like that?" Oh! The nerve of that superjerk. Implying he would ever do something to hurt Roxanne!

"Crying like what? Wayne Scott, were you spying on me?" Wait. What? Why was Roxanne crying?

"I, uh- I had been keeping an eye out for you since you disappeared Monday afternoon, and then I heard sounds in your apartment. So, I came to investigate and I saw you crying in your bathroom." He heard her yelp in pain and then she started screaming at the hero again.

"How dare you spy on me like that! That is a complete invasion of my privacy! What are you, some kind of super-powered peeping tom? Megamind would never have done such a perverted thing as spy on a lady in her bath and he's the villain in this stupid game." He grinned when she said his name, then laughed quietly as she laid into the hero, "Oh, you just wait until I tell your mother what you did, Wayne Scott! I can't believe you! Get. Out. Get out now!"

Megamind saw the hero speed quickly out of the area and smirked to himself before he poked his head over the edge of the roof. He lined himself up and then dropped neatly onto the balcony that had just been vacated. She came charging out at him with something in her hand that she dropped the instant she saw it was him standing there. She let out a gasp and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing herself to him tightly saying, "Oh, you're okay. You're okay. Oh, God." He was instantly glad that he had not donned his cape and collar before he left, instead wearing the outfit he'd put on when he'd gotten home after his own relaxing bath – a black linen button-down shirt with the top button undone and the collar popped, the bottom tucked into his black jeans. She kissed his neck and worked her way up his jaw to his lips, kissing him hungrily and with such a need it almost scared him. She clung to him desperately, her fists balling up into his shirt.

He held her tightly and walked her back into her apartment, kicking the balcony door closed with his booted foot as he passed. He sat her down on the couch and then sat down next to her. She immediately crawled into his lap and hugged herself to his middle. He held her close, the hole in his heart that the dream had left suddenly feeling full again. "I had such a horrible nightmare, Naren. You were captured and horribly beaten and tied to a table, oh God you looked like you were in so much pain it tore at my heart. And they had me too. Somehow, I was pregnant and they took them away from me! Oh, God, they took our beautiful babies!"

His heart stopped for a moment when she'd said the babies in the dream were beautiful. He'd thought so, of course, in the brief moment he'd been able to see them, being that they looked like him, but he hadn't expected her to think that too. This incredible woman he loved was so in love with him that the thought of bearing his blue children was actually a happy one for her. He could still not believe the twist of fate that had made this possible for them. She continued her sobbing into his chest and his happy feelings were tamped by the sheer pain in her cry. "Oh, it was so horrible. Once the babies were gone, I blacked out and, and…" she sniffed loudly and buried her face in his neck the tears welled up in her eyes again. She took a deep breath as his arms tightened possessively around her trembling form.

He placed a kiss on her hair and inhaled her intoxicating scent. Then he quietly finished the story for her, "And then you died." She pulled back and looked at him with sadness and comprehension in her eyes. She'd had the same dream he'd had. They both seemed to need reassurance that the other was still alive and well. After a moment of being lost in her eyes, he placed his hand on her cheek and brought her face up to his, placing a tender kiss on her lips before pulling away and looking into her eyes again. "I am so glad it was just a dream." She settled against him and felt safe again. A moment later, he looked down at his love and asked unsurely, "Roxanne, is the dream the only reason you were crying?"

"You weren't spying on me too, were you?" she asked with a hurt sound to her voice but she didn't move from his embrace. She had no more energy to be angry even if her boyfriend had been spying on her the same way she'd just yelled at the hero for doing.

"No, no, I wasn't," he said honestly, "but I did overhear your conversation with Metro _Mahn_. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but he arrived just after I did and I wanted to see you so badly, I couldn't just leave. You were yelling at him rather loudly."

"I – I just wanted to see you," she said admitting her weakness to him, knowing he was not going to do anything but love her for it as she loved him for his. "After that nightmare ended I wanted to be certain it wasn't real. I just wanted to see you," she repeated herself. "And instead he showed up, demanding to know why I was crying."

"Well, I was actually here first, but he beat me to the balcony." He smiled at her, trying to calm her down. Then he lost himself in his train of thought. "He probably would have assumed I was trying to kidnap you if I had gotten in here first anyway, so it was probably better that we arrived the way we did."

She didn't care at all that he'd been listening in given the blatant invasion of privacy Wayne had committed. "He tried to imply that you had done something to hurt me. It made me mad, and then when he said he had seen me crying in the bathroom, that was it! Hero or not, he has no right to watch me like that. It's creepy and wrong!" She'd worked herself up again and he looked into her eyes, feeling so relieved that she hadn't been crying because of their newly admitted feelings for each other, still convinced she was going to suddenly come to her senses and run away from him.

"But, why were you in the bathroom crying?" he asked, suddenly unable to contain his curiosity. He realized a moment after he'd said it that she may not want him to know such a thing and was preparing to apologize to her when she replied.

She felt no need to keep anything from him. "I fell asleep in the bathtub. That's where I was when I woke up from the dream. Seeing you like that was too much to bear and I lost it, I sobbed uncontrollably." She sniffled to emphasize her point. "I felt so helpless. I guess that's when he saw me. Naturally being in the tub when it happened, I was not exactly clothed."

Megamind grimaced at the thought that the hero had seen his Roxanne in her birthday suit and his mind came up with several acceptable plans to defend her honor before he looked at her face and realized now was not the time for such things. She needed him here, and here was where he was going to be. "I'm so sorry you had to experience that nightmare. It was by far the worst one I've had myself, at least as far as lingering effects. But, I don't want to talk about that unpleasantness anymore."

"We can talk about whatever you want," she replied quickly, "as long as you don't leave." He smiled at that. So she _did_ enjoy his company. "May I ask you a question?"

"You just did," he said in his soft voice, teasing her. She gave a little hiccupping laugh. He did know how to make her feel better.

"Okay, you got me." She thought for a moment and rephrased her request. "May I ask you another question after this one?"

He laughed warmly, a sound which made her heart skip a beat. "Sure."

She was nervous. Why was she nervous? He was the same man she'd slept next to for four nights in a row, and consequently, the one she wanted to wake up next to for many, many mornings to come. Her voice wavered a bit when she spoke, "Will you stay the night?" His heart thumped so loudly he would have sworn she could hear it. The girl of his dreams just invited him to spend the night with her in her apartment. After everything they'd been through together, it seemed so insignificant, but at the same time, it was a milestone.

"I will stay as long as you wish," he took her hand in his and smiled at her before he kissed the back of her knuckles. She winced in pain and he gasped, letting go of her hand immediately. He'd hurt her by doing something so simple? He really did need practice at this stuff!

"Owww," she whined, clutching her hand to her chest. "Big dumb jerk, still causing me problems!"

His face fell. How could he have hurt her just like that? He was such an idiot! "I'm so sorry, Roxanne."

"What? Oh, no, no, not you," she put her good hand on his jaw so she could caress his cheek with her thumb and looked at him with all seriousness before leaning in and giving his pouting lips a lingering kiss. Then she pulled back and explained, "I punched Wayne in his self-righteous jaw when he said he'd been watching me. I hurt my hand. He's the one causing me problems."

His eyes went wide, realizing that the yelp he'd heard earlier was likely when she'd punched him. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or be concerned for her. In the end, concern won out, but he couldn't resist teasing her a bit. "I'm so sorry you are hurt, but I would love to have seen you punch him," he smirked. She grinned back at him and let out a little giggle despite the pain that was now so insistent it would not be ignored as it had been since he'd arrived. She was reminded of one of the many reasons that she'd fallen in love with him. No man had ever had so profound an effect on her as to be able to make her actually forget about pain this intense. Sadly, now that the pain had made its reappearance thanks to his gentlemanly gesture, it was determined to not be forgotten again. A radiating throb began in her knuckles and traveled up to her shoulder in waves.

"Will you let me see if it's broken?" She nodded. He gently picked up her hand again and saw the bruise there on her knuckles that he'd missed before. She'd hit that arrogant jerk hard. "Can you move your fingers?" She wiggled her digits to demonstrate that she could. "Can you make a fist?" She closed her fingers toward her palm some and winced again. He gently turned her hand over so he could examine the rest of her hand. There was a line of bruises across the palm of her hand forming where her fingertips had dug into her hand with the force of the impact.

He looked in her eyes and gave his diagnosis. "Well, you bruised it pretty badly and I suspect you may have strained a muscle on impact but I don't think it's broken. We should put ice on your hand to help with the swelling and bruising. Take an ibuprofen if you need to, for the pain." She was impressed. He actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about. "I would encourage you to see a doctor just to be safe. Unless, of course, you would rather go to the emergency room now."

"No, I don't want to leave here. It doesn't really hurt that bad anymore. Some ice and an Advil sounds perfect to me. How do you know so much about this?"

"When you've been injured as often as I have, you tend to pick up a few things about symptoms and treatments," he laughed to himself. "Minion could probably be a paramedic for all the experience he's had patching me up." They both stood up from the couch at the same time and he turned to her and said, "Where are you going?"

"To get some ice and an Advil," she replied as if he should have known the answer to his question. He just shook his head.

"Roxanne, please sit down. I will get you whatever you need." He gently pushed her back onto the couch and then walked into her kitchen. He was already familiar with the place having been there several times to kidnap her. Having had to wait once or twice for the lovely reporter to come home, he'd done a fair amount of snooping around and knew where most things were in the apartment. He opened the freezer and was reaching for the ice when he saw a better option. She had a flexible sports-medicine ice pack in the freezer. He pulled a dish towel off of its hook and wrapped the ice pack in it, then grabbed a bottle of water out of her refrigerator. He plucked the bottle of Advil out of the basket of medicines she kept on her kitchen counter because her bathroom did not have a medicine cabinet for some strange reason, or so she'd said when he'd asked once a long time ago.

She watched him as he walked and worked, taking in his attire for the first time. The black was expected, but Megamind wearing regular clothes was something she'd never had the privilege of seeing before. She'd seen him in his usual attire and in the gaudy orange prison jumpsuit, but this just about took her breath away. He turned to walk back over to her and noticed that she was staring at him. "I really like that look for you, Naren. Has anyone ever told you how incredibly handsome you are?"

He blushed purple, smiled and kept walking toward her, the two bottles in one hand, the ice pack in the other. "Well, I have, but it sounds so much nicer when you say it." She returned his smile as he sat down next to her on the couch. He placed the two bottles in his lap and grabbed a throw pillow from the side of her couch. He situated the pillow in her lap and then took a gentle hold of her injured hand, laying it on top of the pillow and placing the towel-wrapped ice pack on top of it. Once her hand was situated, he got the bottle of pills and opened it. "How many do you want?" He read the bottle for a moment, "They are only two hundred milligrams each, so you can take up to four depending on your level of pain."

"I usually take two for a headache. That will probably be fine." He shook the bottle until two of the clear green pills fell into his hand, then handed them to her and replaced the lid on the bottle. He picked up the water bottle and opened it and then handed it to her so she could swallow her medicine. "You're a pretty good nurse, Naren. Thank you for taking care of me."

He smiled at her, "Any time." He watched as she popped the pills in her mouth and took a drink from the bottle. She swallowed then took another long drink, her eyes watching him. "You know I really like that," he said, suddenly serious.

"What? Me complimenting you?"

"No. Well, I like that too, but I meant you calling me by my name. I didn't realize how much I would enjoy hearing you say it," his genuine smile made her heart melt and want to kiss him so badly.

"You know what?" she had a playful smile on her face.

"What?"

"I love you, Naren." She felt it important to also add, "And, I love you, Megamind."

He smiled and sighed, his eyelids half closed in love struck pleasure. "I love you, Roxanne." He moved forward slowly to kiss her again, never taking his eyes off hers. He was very careful not to disturb her hand. As his lips touched hers, he sucked her bottom lip slightly in between his own and she did the same with his top lip, bringing her good hand up to caress his face again. His skin was so smooth and warm under her hand, she loved the feel of it. Her hand found its way around to the back of his neck and held his head to hers as he continued to kiss her slowly. She massaged the spot on his neck she'd found earlier and he moaned as he had before. Their exploration of ways to please each other with their lips was cut short when she gasped in pain after she'd tried to use her injured hand to pull him closer.

He stopped immediately and pulled away from her lips. "Roxanne, you need to be careful with that hand. We shouldn't be doing this while you are injured," he said and this time she pouted. He was being the responsible one?

"Curse Wayne for getting in between us again," she said seriously. He laughed and then re-situated the icepack on her hand.

"I don't know if it is a good thing that I find you adorable when you are mad." He thought for a moment about something they could do together, then decided that watching a movie would be an appropriate activity because he could hold her while she kept her hand still. He looked through her meager DVD collection and selected one of the several chick-flicks she had. He put the movie in the player and turned on the TV, grabbing the remote before he sat back down next to her on the couch. He paused for a moment to remove his boots and socks before settling back against the arm and pillows on one end of the couch. She took his unspoken hint and scooted over to him to lay her head against his chest as she wrapped her good arm around his back and placed the pillow and her hand next to both of them on the couch.

The movie started and she settled against him to watch. His arms wrapped around her back and pulled her tightly against his chest. He quickly lost track of the plot as he lost himself in the woman willingly lying against him. Her soft form in his arms was more than he had ever dared to hope for. Her arm being wrapped around him made him want to burst with joy. The fact that she loved him was almost too much to bear, but it was certainly the icing on the cake, and any future cake that ever would be. He turned his attention back to the movie at a particularly funny moment of slap-stick comedy – his personal favorite – and laughed. He noticed that she didn't respond at all and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing steadily as she leaned against him with her hand propped on the pillow. He held her like that for the remainder of the movie, relishing every moment.

The dorky guy got his popular girl, the movie ended, and the credits started rolling to some over-played radio song to the characters dancing. It was a bit much for his taste. He pressed the stop button on the DVD remote and let the light from the television be enough for what he needed to do. The ice pack had long since been tossed to the floor for fear that her hand would suffer hypothermia. He bent his head down and kissed the top of hers, knowing from experience that it was fairly difficult to wake her.

"It's time for bed, Roxanne," he said gently in her ear to rouse her. She stirred but didn't seem to want to move. He started to move like he was going to get off the couch.

Suddenly, she was wide awake. "No, I'm not ready to go to sleep yet. I want to be with you."

"I'm right here. I said I wasn't going to leave as long as you wanted me here."

"No, I mean I want to _be_ with you," she said in a clear voice, no trace of drowsiness present. "As in, you're my boyfriend, and I love you, and I want you. No-" she was cut off as his lips covered hers. Her hand was still a little numb from the ice, and she hardly cared about it anymore anyway, but she cradled it against her chest protectively anyway. He kissed her tenderly at first but as she responded with more and more passion, he did the same, always careful of her injured hand, as if a part of his immense intellect was reserved just for remembering that. Soon they were kissing all over each other's faces and necks, tongues exploring the taste of each other's skin, three hands pulling at clothing that was suddenly very much in the way. He wanted to have her but not here. He stood up and picked her up into his arms.

"I don't want our first time to be on a couch," he said and then carried her through her apartment to her bedroom. She reached down and opened the door so he could carry her inside and managed to turn the light on with the tip of her toe as he swiftly carried her through the threshold, kicking the door shut behind him. He set her down gently on the bed and walked back to the switch.

"Leave it on for now. I want to see you."

As if he wasn't nervous enough, now she wanted to see him too? Well, two could play at that game. He replied smugly to hide his nervous quaver, "Very well, then I want to see you, too."

"Of course," she replied with a smirk. Then she had a fun idea, "Do you want to undress me and I'll undress you or just take care of ourselves?"

He was entranced by the idea of Roxanne undressing him and said, "I want to undress you. Can I go first?"

She had intended to do it simultaneously, but he obviously had other ideas, so she agreed and he ran his hands down the cotton fabric of her tanktop. His fingers tickled her skin as he dipped them in underneath the end of the shirt to tease along her waistband. Her stomach muscles twitched every time his finger brushed her skin. She giggled and told him that it tickled, so he of course started tickling her on purpose. She laughed out loud while she'd been squirming out of his tickling range. He pulled her shirt off over her head and dropped it on the floor. She never slept in a bra, and she hadn't put one on after her bath. He was instantly distracted, touching, kissing, nuzzling and generally enjoying her perfect breasts. He stopped taking her clothes off so she had to clear her throat to get his attention away from his new toys.

"Ahem."

"Yes?" he asked without looking up.

"You didn't finish."

"Oh." He lowered his head and licked and then kissed each of her pert nipples before returning his hands to the task of unbuttoning her blouse. He finished and pushed it off of her freckled shoulders, letting it fall into a heap on the floor. He tore his eyes away from her chest and focused on untying the knot in the string that held the grey yoga pants on. He made short work of the knot and pushed the pants down over her hips and off her legs. The black lacy panties she was wearing came last. He finished his work and stood back to admire the view, "Absolutely exquisite." She blushed across her cheeks and her chest. It made him want her even more, if that was possible.

"Well, Megs, it's my turn now," she said in a flirty low tone of voice. She sauntered up to him knowing that his eyes were all over her naked body as she moved. Her hands felt on his chest and up to his neck, then back down so her fingers could make quick work of the buttons. As she got to the bottom of his shirt, she un-tucked it and pushed it back off of him revealing his skinny but muscular chest and the smooth hairless blue skin that stretched across it. He had two dark blue nipples, erect from their foreplay, and a cute little belly button. His torso was longer than a human male's would have been, but on him it was perfect. She unbuttoned the jeans, lowered the zipper and was pushing them down his hips and over his butt when she realized that he was not wearing any underwear.

She did not noticeably stutter in her movements, but she did mentally. He was already excited from their mutual stripping and his jeans barely contained him. Once she'd unzipped the pants and pushed them down, he'd sort of popped out of confinement. She was startled momentarily as she was almost hit in the eye by his flying member, but she recovered and pushed his pants the rest of the way off. She stood up and examined her handiwork. "You are so beautiful." Now it was his turn to blush furiously.

As first times went, his was better than average. Much better than average. She was impressed with the fact that he'd been able to make them ride the wave of pleasure at the same time, climaxing together. And then he'd done it again. Twice! She had never been so thoroughly taken care of in her entire sexually active life. She knew it was because the feelings they shared for each other were so intense that the experience was so much more pleasurable for both of them, but she had to wonder if there was more of a connection between them than just that. He'd seemed to instinctively know what she wanted and how to please her, and she had likewise with him. And like with the kissing as before, she supposed he was naturally talented even if he was untested, and he was of course eager to learn how to best please her. She'd gladly participated in helping him find out.

Having been thoroughly used up, Roxanne just laid in her bed for the first time in almost a week. She stared at the ceiling thinking about the convoluted string of events that had led her to this moment of unadulterated blissful exhaustion. A week ago, she thought it would only ever be in her dreams that she would be able to explore the connection she felt with the man lying next to her. Now, the realm of possibilities between them seemed wide open and she was ready to find out just where they could take this.

Megamind was lying on his side with his naked body pressed up against hers, his left arm stretched up and bent back at the elbow under the pillow his head was resting on. His eyes were closed peacefully but he lazily drew shapes with his warm fingers on her bare stomach, so she knew he wasn't asleep yet. The flat sheet of her matched set was the only cover they had and it was only draped over them up to their waists. The moonlight coming in from her window illuminated the shape of his shoulder and curve of his neck as it met the base of his considerable skull. Knowing that he was still awake as well, she could not resist playing with him.

"Are you sure that was your first time doing that?"

"No, that was my third time."

She looked at him with one eyebrow quirked, "Oh really? What about the other two? When were they?" She intentionally walked into the trap.

"Right before that last time. Miss R- I mean Roxanne, I assure you that you are the first person I have ever had intimate contact with." He didn't catch that she was teasing him. "You're the only person I have ever _wanted_ to have intimate contact with." She wasn't going to stop him from speaking his heart out loud though. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever have a chance to actually be with you, though. It's still hard to believe this is real. Even after everything we've done tonight."

"It's real. I love you and we belong together. Besides, the reality of what we've done here will be staring us in the face all too soon. Let's just enjoy this blessed time together before reality sets in, shall we?" She rolled on her side so she was spooned against him and closed her eyes. His arms wrapped around her and held her close against him.

"You think we belong together?" His voice came from right by her ear, his breath blowing across sending a shiver down her spine.

"Of course I do. You're the one that I wanted to find. The one my soul has been searching for. I've never felt anything that was just so right." An overwhelming feeling of happiness washed over her as she sank into a blissfully dreamless sleep. He drifted off shortly after her and was pleased to find no nightmare waiting for him on the other side of consciousness.


	24. Repercussions

**a/n: Well, we all knew there couldn't be happy fluffy without a little drama. PLUS:**

*******RATED M: More Megs and Roxanne time. I just can't resist!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-four: Repercussions

Wayne Scott was pissed off. Roxanne had been gone for DAYS and he had shown nothing but concern for her when he'd come to check in on her once he'd realized she was back. And she's gotten mad at him for it! She'd thrown him out claiming that he'd invaded her privacy! That was not what had him so upset, though. After he'd left, he had decided to keep an eye on her since Megamind was back in town as well. He just knew something was going to happen and he wanted to be ready when it did. He'd flown to one of his lookout points so he could keep an eye on her and the rest of the city at the same time. He could not believe what he'd seen. Not five minutes after she'd sent him packing, Megamind had shown up on her balcony. Wayne had expected to hear a scream and see signs of a struggle as she was kidnapped yet again, but he most certainly did not expect to see what he had.

She'd not only welcomed the villain when he'd arrived, she'd wrapped herself around him like a pole dancer and kissed all over his face and neck. She just kept crying "You're okay" over and over as he picked her up and carried her back inside her apartment, closing the balcony door behind him. Come to think of it, the blue alien had seemed rather subdued as well. Just what the hell had happened while she was gone? Had they been together as he'd initially suspected? Why was she kissing Megamind and welcoming him into her home when she'd just kicked the hero out?

How could she possibly want the villain in her home when he'd done nothing but make her life a living hell for at least a decade? He was determined to find out but the accusation she'd flung at him of invading her privacy stopped him from using his super powers to spy on them. He knew she had to be in danger with him being there, but having been told in no uncertain terms to get out, if she didn't call out for help, he was honor and law bound not to interfere.

He waited a long time for the other alien to leave, watching the outside of her apartment closely, monitoring for any sign of trouble. The thought crossed his mind that if she was being controlled, then she may not even know she was in trouble, but he did not want to risk another tongue-lashing from the spunky reporter if he just barged in. The light in her living room went out a few hours after the door was closed and several moments later, the light in her bedroom came on. It stayed on for several minutes and then was extinguished as well. What he didn't see was the blue man leaving the apartment. Had he left another way? Or was he still in there with her, and if he was, then what could they possibly be doing?

He sat there most of the night before realizing the other alien was probably in for good. He wondered what could have possibly happened between the two of them to cause this dramatic change in both of their behavior. As he reflected upon these thoughts, it suddenly occurred to him that he needed to let the police know they could stop looking for the reporter since she was, most decidedly, not missing anymore. That was the last thought that flashed through his head before he took off toward the police station.

* * *

><p>Roxanne awoke feeling better than she had in days. The sun shone on her face through the slightly tinted windows of her top-floor apartment. She reveled in the feeling of her soft pillow under head, her plush but firm mattress, her warm blue boyfriend- who was not next to her? She sat up quickly and looked around the room. His shirt was draped over the back of a chair near her bed, but his jeans were missing. The pile of clothes she'd been wearing when he had arrived was still where they'd dropped them. But, where was he? Suddenly, she heard a loud bang outside of the bedroom. She stood up, grabbed his black shirt and put it on, buttoning some of the buttons as she padded out of the room to find out what had caused the commotion. She left the collar popped the way he'd had it.<p>

She found her boyfriend in the kitchen, cursing at the mangled mess her "pots and pans" cabinet was in. He was clad in only his black jeans, all bare blue chest and feet, the pants barely staying on his almost non-existent hips. She chucked quietly at his distress with the pots. He turned around and gave her a sheepish grin.

"You woke up. I was going to surprise you!" He then noticed that her bare legs were sticking out of the bottom of his shirt. It made his breath catch in his throat; his mind went mushy and he dropped the pans he was holding into the mess below with a spectacular crash.

She laughed merrily and couldn't resist ribbing him a bit, "With what, rearranging my kitchen?"

He looked away from her to recover himself, then snorted and said, "Hardly. I was going to make us 'breakfast in bed' and then be back in bed before you noticed I was gone. Your disorganized kitchen prevented me from accomplishing my goal timely."

Ignoring the dig about her organized kitchen she said, "Awww, Naren. That's very sweet of you. Can I help and then we can still go back to bed?" He seemed to like that idea and nodded emphatically. She walked into the kitchen and looked at the mess of pans on the ground at his feet. "What are you trying to make?"

"Toast."

"Toast? You put every pot and pan I own on the floor trying to make toast?" She quirked up an eyebrow in amusement, but she was only amused because she knew that she was going to make him clean up the mess he'd made, including re-washing all of the pans that had been on the floor.

"Yes. Well, French toast."

"Oh. Okay, well my large frying pan is here," she said with a smile that she couldn't stop from spreading across her face, as she bent down to open the drawer underneath the oven. She retrieved the large non-stick skillet and handed it to him. He took it and placed it on the stove, reaching to turn the knob so the pan could warm up. "Now, you can pick up your mess, my love." She noticed he had a pan of the custard mix and a small stack of her cinnamon breakfast bread all ready to go.

Megamind picked up all of the pots and pans he'd removed from the cabinet and stacked them by the sink. "I'll wash those later so I can put them away. I'm sure your floor is clean, but you can never be too careful about these things," he offered. She smiled at him as he turned back to the stove and the almost-preheated frying pan. She noticed him dip his fingers in a glass of water and then flick the water on the pan. It sizzled a little and he shook his head. He noticed that she was watching him and explained, "You have to wait for the pan to be properly preheated. The water should sizzle off immediately, otherwise it's not ready yet." She watched a few minutes later as he repeated the water flick and saw the water evaporate almost immediately as it hit the hot pan. He dropped a pat of butter into the pan and picked it up to move it around, coating the pan, then he replaced it on the burner. "Ready to cook."

She stood close to him and helped him cook by soaking the bread in the custard on both sides, since she could easily do that one-handed. He took care of actually cooking it, two slices at a time, flipping each one at precisely the right moment so it was a golden brown color when he turned it. She admired his meticulousness, amused at the perfection he strove for in even this menial of a task. Yes, he would certainly be successful once he started to devote his formerly-criminal energy fully to beneficial projects. It was a happy thought, indeed. It was not long before breakfast was almost ready. Then he remembered something, "How is your hand feeling this morning?"

"It feels much better actually. I just need to take it easy I think. I can't believe that we did all that last night and you managed to never accidentally hit it once. You're really something else, you know that?" He smiled at her as he removed the last two pieces from the frying pan.

He situated two pieces of bread on each plate and sprinkled some powdered sugar lightly over the toast. "We should just eat at your table since we are both up already and the syrup is kind of messy. But after that, I am not opposed to going back to bed." He gave her a sly smile as he placed the plates at two spots and then pulled out one of the chairs for her. She grinned and sat down as he pushed the chair under her gently. She placed the syrup on the table and then put a knife and fork next to his plate and hers.

They started to eat in a companionable silence. She cut off a piece of the toast after she'd drizzled syrup over the bread, and took a bite. The taste was light and sweet, the custard in the cinnamon toast enhanced by the sweet woodiness of the maple syrup, and then the bread was crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. She'd never tasted French toast this good before. "Okay, so you know how to cook. Where did you learn to cook something this amazing?"

"Well…" he hesitated, then continued, "I did watch a lot of television when I was incarcerated. That's where the recipe came from. As far as being able to cook, that's just chemistry: mixing ingredients and applying heat in the proper order at the right time to achieve a desired formula or result. Easy!"

"I never thought of it that way," Roxanne mused. She was continually and pleasantly surprised by her new boyfriend and she hadn't yet stopped kicking herself for not giving him a chance before. She continued to eat her breakfast until it was almost gone and then looked at his similarly situated plate, then up into his eyes.

"That was sublime. You're a good chef, Naren." She thought that there was probably nothing, aside from defeating his nemesis, that he couldn't do.

"Minion is still a much better chef than I am, but thank you for the compliment." It was then that he noticed the small dot of syrup resting on the corner of her lips. He reached out and placed a crooked finger under her chin and his thumb on top as he pulled her willingly closer. Just as suddenly as she had done in the car, he quickly licked the syrup off her face, kissed her lips, then sat back and let go of her chin. He smiled at her mischievously and she giggled in return.

"You know, I just thought of something I think you'll like, if you'll permit me a moment of vanity," she grinned at him.

"Oh really? Roxanne, beautiful, witty, fun, intelligent, sassy, did I mention beautiful, love of my life. You deserve more than a moment of vanity, so proceed, please," he said with a sincere smile that made her heart flutter.

"Well, you won. You finally beat Wayne."

"I did?" he sounded genuinely confused. He hadn't launched any plans against the hero since they'd been stranded together. She knew that. So, what was she talking about?

She decided to make him figure it out at that point, so she smiled at him more seductively and said, "You beat Wayne out for something he's been trying to win for years."

"I did?" he said again. She was really messing with him, that had to be it. But, why would she do that?

"Yes, can you not guess what it is? He never had it, so it wasn't stolen, it was given to you freely."

She wanted him to figure it out like a riddle. Easy. Something the hero had never possessed that he'd won and it had been given to him freely. Oh! He smiled at her with his eyelids drooping in a very sexy way, "I know." He reached forward, took her good hand in his and looked her in the eyes directly. "'It' is your heart. And, that's the best prize I could have ever won. You're not vain for thinking that. It's true." She smiled widely at her love. "I do like how you put it though, it adds a little dash of sugar to this already unbelievably sweet proverbial cake." She stood and approached his still sitting form, then lifted one of her legs and straddled him in the chair, her shirt starting to ride up as she sat down.

He looked at her wide-eyed and she grinned at him as she leaned back against the table, intentionally making the shirt lift up so that he could see she was wearing nothing underneath. He reacted by kissing her suddenly as he lifted her up and wiggled a little. When he settled her back down, she was pleasantly surprised to find something waiting for her. They became one and for a moment just held each other that way, enjoying the closeness.

His fingers began to work undoing the buttons of the shirt so he had unrestricted access to her naked body. "You like the way I feel inside you." It wasn't a question. However, it was what she'd just been thinking about.

"Mmmm. I do." Then she heard a stray thought in his voice, "You like the way I feel around you." She tightened her muscles around him.

He gave a shuddering breath. "Dear God, I do."

She realized with a fair amount of amazement what had transpired and asked, "How did we hear each other's thoughts?"

"I have a theory about that," he said as he shifted position in the chair and himself in the process. It elicited a short moan from her. He smirked. "I think we started forming a link when we decided we loved each other. I believe it is a natural thing for my species, to protect the ties between mates. The next time I am back at the Lair, I'll ask Minion about it just to be sure, I am sure he knows something about it. Not that I am in any hurry to leave here, of course."

"We have a link?" she sounded intrigued rather than repulsed as he'd been afraid when he'd started to suspect that they were linked. He was glad for that, her thoughts were curious.

"A sort of bond, and I think it is growing, or at least it has been. It's unfortunately why you experienced my awful dream. I'm not sure how we shared it since we were so far apart, and I am so sorry that you had to go through that."

"The way I see it, I don't see any way around us needing to sleep together every night. I don't mind sharing dreams with you, but I'd rather not have another nightmare like that." He grinned and opened his mouth to say something but she put her finger over his lips. "And, if we are going to be sleeping together _every_ night, then there would really not be any point in having two places, would there?" He shook his head since her finger was still firmly affixed to his lips. "So, what do you think we can do about that?" She felt his reluctance to agree outright.

"I would want you to move into the Lair, if you wouldn't mind, because I am not fond of all the light in this apartment and I doubt you would let me black out most of the windows," he grinned at her expression of horror at the thought. "But, I can't. Not right now." She felt embarassment coming from him, but couldn't stop the hurt and confusion she felt. "Now, hold on. I don't have a proper bedroom at the moment, Roxanne. The bathroom barely qualifies as such. I didn't really build it with anyone other than me in mind. But, if you like, I can have a bedroom and bathroom installed... oh, before the end of the weekend. You can help design it if you want, since it'll be your bedroom too." He was quiet for a moment as he heard what she was thinking. He started to respond.

She cut him off, "I'd like that, and before you ask, yes, I do think it is incredible to have this close of a connection to you," she said with a genuine smile. He smiled back and then captured her lips in a tender kiss. He could not think of anything that made him happier than this, and he loved her with his entire being. She pulled away from his lips and caught his eyes, "I can't think of a more perfect way to show you how completely I love you."

They continued kissing as she started to move against him. The experience was much more intense as they actually felt each other's pleasure in addition to their own, so it compounded to the nth degree until they were both enveloped within each other surrounded by their cloud of mutual bliss. They could hardly hear the knocking sound coming from the front door to her apartment. The sound became louder and more insistent and a voice followed, "Roxanne? Rox-a-roo? I know you're in there! Are you ok?" It was Hal? Why on Earth would he be here?

"You're going to have to find out. I don't think you are going to be able to ignore him," he said as he pushed an errant chunk of hair out of her face. She pouted and kissed his lips again briefly before she stood up and fumbled with the buttons on her shirt, trying to cover herself with a frustrated fervor. She wanted to be rid of this creep quickly. He gently pushed her hands out of the way and nimbly buttoned each of the buttons on the shirt all the way down, letting his fingers tickle and tease her a little as he went, causing her to giggle in spite of herself. By the time he'd finished, she was not upset anymore. He was absolutely remarkable for being able to do that, when no one else had ever bothered. Yet another reason to love him. He smiled at her, "Be gentle. He hasn't seen you since Monday. He's probably been concerned for his coworker."

She sighed, still relaxed but not happy anymore, "No, Hal is a creep. He hits on me and asks me out every single day I have to work with him. He is the _last_ person I want to see. Ugh. Wait here." She walked over to the door and opened it, but left the chain on and leaned her head in the crack. The pudgy red-haired cameraman stood in her hallway a little too close to her door for comfort. "Hi Hal."

"Hi, Roxie! The station sent me to find out if you were really back in town."

"I'm here. Tell them I'll be back in on Monday." She went to close the door, but he put his foot in the opening so she couldn't.

"Well, no. Not really. They sent me to give you this if you really were back in town." He pushed a large white envelope through the opening and then said, "Where have you been?" She took the envelope and opened it. She pulled out the stack of paperwork, the top sheet of which was a letter from her boss.

The letter was eloquently phrased and nicely worded, but it declared in no uncertain terms that she was no longer employed by KMCP 8. Her heart sank. She'd been expecting repercussions from her extended absence, but firing her by sending Hal with a termination letter was a level of heartless that she hadn't thought previously possible for her formerly understanding boss.

"Roxie? Did you hear me? I asked you where you have been." She winced at the tone of voice he used and then placed the papers down on the table next to the door.

"I've been on vacation."

"Well, I hope it was worth it." She smiled to herself. Oh, it was worth it all right. Nothing had ever been more worth it. "I have a box of your stuff that was on your desk. Do you want me to bring it inside for you?" She shuddered visibly at the thought of the pudgy cameraman in her apartment. "Oh! And, you need to sign somethign that was in that envelope and I have to take it back," he sounded all too eager. Perhaps they'd stuck him with Marcy, the new blonde from that had started the week before.

"No, just leave it in the hallway. I'll get it later." She found the page she had to sign acknowledging her termination and receipt of whatever joke of a severance package they thought she deserved for single-handedly saving the station that had been nearly bankrupt when she'd started in their employ. Just to spite them, she took the time to add hearts over the I's in her last name and a smiley face next to the date. Their loss, not hers. She told herself these things to make the sting feel better.

"Roxie, what's going on?"

"I just got fired Hal, I don't want to be around anyone right now. Please leave. Just leave the box on the floor. Goodbye, Hal." She flicked the signed lette back at him through the crack of the door and waited for him to follow the order she'd given him, but he didn't move his foot.

"But where have you been for the last week?"

"I told you, I was on vacation out of town. I needed to get away from here to figure some things out." She felt the smile that was plastered across her love's face in the other room and grinned inspite of present company. "Please just go away, Hal. I am tired from traveling. I just lost my job and I don't want to see anyone right now," she pleaded with his sense of decency, which she wasn't entirely sure he possessed at all. She put her foot on the toe of his boot and pushed his foot out through the crack. She closed the door and locked it, leaning forward and resting her head against it. She felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist, pulling her against his chest, his chin resting on her shoulder. She leaned back against him and sighed.

"I'm sorry they fired you. I'm sure there's at least three other networks in Metrocity alone that would love for you to report for them. In the meantime, I will take care of the financial aspect of things if you will let me. It's the least I can do since it is my fault you lost your job." He hoped with everything that he was that she would let him take care of her. She felt the protectiveness he had for her and his overwhelming need to provide for her and understood that his need to do what he was asking to do for her was instinctual.

She accepted his request in her mind and then said, "If that will make you feel better, I won't stop you. Thank you."

"Anything for you, Roxanne." At that, she took his hand and led him back to her bedroom to have some blissfully uninterrupted time alone together. She took the receiver off the hook and placed it on the counter as she passed through the kitchen. She was certain that if Hal knew she was back, she'd be receiving a call from her sister in no time. She didn't want any more interruptions.

They became further absorbed within each other and explored all kinds of ways to please and tease. Before they realized it, the Noon-day sun was streaming in through the windows. He thought about Minion for a fraction of a second. Then she looked up into his eyes from her position of snuggled against his side with her head on his chest and her hand in his against his chest as well. His other arm was wrapped around her, his hand resting loosely on her hip.

"I need another shower after all that exercise last night," she said to no one in particular. Then she said to him, "Want to join me?"

"In the shower?"

"Yes."

"Okay." He had no idea what to do in the shower with her. He'd always been given special permission to shower alone in the prison because of his supposed alien physiology, so he'd never had the experience at all.

"Don't worry. It's easy. I wash you, you wash me, and we can just see where it goes from there." She stood up from the bed, took his hand and pulled him along behind her.

"That sounds like an excellent idea." He followed her into her bathroom, watching the way her behind moved as she walked. It was intoxicating to watch. She turned the shower on and situated the curtain before she turned around and came face to face with her very attractive boyfriend. He kissed her passionately, his arms wrapping around her and pressing her naked body against his. From that point, their shower was less than productive in that they both needed to scrub again to actually be sure they were clean, but that didn't mean they both hadn't enjoyed it immensely.

She put on some jeans and a pink polo shirt with tennis shoes. He just put back on the same clothes he'd been wearing before. As they dressed, she asked, "Hey, I was wondering if the bad part of the dream was yours, was the first part too?"

He blushed purple and smirked at her, "Roxanne, you don't know how long I have wanted you. I just wish the rest of the dream hadn't happened."

She smiled at him reassuringly, "Actually, in a way, I am glad it did. You may not have come over if we hadn't both been so distraught after the nightmare, and then we couldn't have had this time to explore each other."

"You're probably right," he smiled, and then thought of something. "Roxanne, would you like to come with me to my Lair?"

"I thought you'd never ask. Yes, I would like that. How are we going to get there?"

"I have my hoverbike on the roof," Megamind smirked.

"Hoverbike?" she sounded surprised, with a mixture of impressed and concerned thrown in at the same time. He felt her apprehension through their link.

"It's perfectly safe as long as you hold on tight to me." She actually felt better at the thought, which made him feel wonderful.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that."

"Is there an easier way to get up onto the roof or are we going to have to climb up the side of the building?" he asked as he looked at her balcony doors.

She smiled at the thought of him climbing up the brick wall like Spider-man, but said, "Yes, there's a stairwell in the hallway that opens onto the roof." He finished getting dressed and took her good hand in his. They walked into the hallway and she locked her apartment door. Their happy laughter rang down the hollow stairwell as they walked up the bifurcated staircase to the door that exited on the roof.

Their dash from the door to the hoverbike was swift, and neither of the two of them noticed the several pairs of eyes and lenses focused on their escape from the apartment building. It was obvious to anyone watching that she was not being dragged against her will. Especially when she'd stopped and kissed him right before she climbed onto the bike behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. They flew back to the Lair, and he didn't bother to stop her from seeing where they were going as he would have done before. He wanted her to know. She shrieked a little when they flew staight at what looked like a graffiti-covered brick wall. As the hologram shimmered around her, she breathed a sigh of relief.


	25. Impressed

**a/n: Hey everyone. I am sooo sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter. I tried to post it last night, but the site would not let me upload it! And then it was really hard to write this for some reason, but I hope the writer's block doesn't last. Reviews help, I must say. Anyway, this chapter has more fluff because there has to be more fluff! Then reality starts to slap us around a bit. Sorry!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-five: Impressed

As he parked the hoverbike next to the invisible car, which was not invisible at present, she hugged him from behind and said, "I'd love it if you took me for a ride on this thing sometime; just for a ride, not to go anywhere."

"We could do that later if you want." He slid off the bike and helped her off and right into his arms, exactly as planned. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. He grinned at her and she smiled back before giving him a light kiss on the lips.

"Sounds like a date," she said happily as he held her. She thought about how much she loved him, and he thought about how much he loved her and they both were so lost in their mutual affection that the world could have exploded around them and neither of them would have noticed. As it was, neither of them noticed when they started kissing each other, or could say who started it, but they didn't care since they were too lost in each other to bother thinking of those things.

Minion had approached when he heard the bike's engine, but had stopped when he saw his friend and Miss Ritchi engaged in each other, turning discreetly away until they inevitably moved apart. It took several minutes before he realized he needed to distract them from each other or he would never gain their attention. He picked up a wrench, waving it around to attract a pack of Brainbots, and then tossed it in the direction of the wall behind the pair. It clanged loudly and the cyborgs chased after it, disrupting the bubble they seemed to be in. Megamind and Roxanne both jumped apart from each other.

Minion approached cautiously and said, "Sir, Miss Ritchi, I'd been wondering if I was going to see you today." Roxanne had her hand resting on her chest and was breathing slowly in an attempt to calm the rapid beating of her heart, which had already been beating pretty quickly before she'd been startled.

Megamind, on the other hand, didn't miss a beat. "Ah, Minion! You fantastic fish, I need some answers! I think you're just the fish to give them to me!"

"Uh ok, Sir. I'll do my best. But, let's talk in the kitchen. I can make lunch for everyone and Miss Ritchi will be more comfortable with a place to sit, I am sure."

"As long as there are no ropes," she teased the two of them. It occurred to her that she had never been inside this place when she wasn't tied up and blindfolded by that awful smelling bag. "And, especially no stinky bag." Megamind looked a little ashamed before he covered it with his arrogant smirk, gleeful delight in his eyes.

"Well, if you want to spoil all the fun, Miss Ritchi, then we'll just have to take you home!" He'd always loved to banter with her, and being in the familiar setting as they were, he fell back into the old patterns easily. She was so engaging.

"Is that a threat or a promise, mister supervillain?"

"It makes no difference, of course." He took her wrists in his hands and restrained them with his hands, like manacles, winking at her. "Follow me, Miss Ritchi." She grinned and let herself be dragged along like a good helpless captive. He was so silly.

"What dastardly plan could you possibly have in store for me in your kitchen, Megamind?"

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Ritchi! All in its proper time." He seemed to forget about their little game, enchanted as he was with her being in his home willingly, giving her somewhat of a tour. He led her forward past a long red curtain that was pulled closed, "My drafting room," and then a smaller blue curtain that was pulled closed in a wide circle, "My bedroom, such as it is." And then they came to a door. He was tempted to cover her eyes and do a reveal like on T.V., but that would be just ludicrous since it was his home. Instead, Minion pushed the door open and walked through, striding over to the hook where his pink "Kiss the Cook" apron hung. He put the apron on and immediately began busying himself preparing to make lunch. Megamind looked back at her briefly before he stepped through the door, pulling her along behind him through the threshold, and then he let her hands go.

Having sensed his growing excitement at her seeing this, she had no idea what to expect but when she stepped through the door and looked around the room, it was in awe of the unexpected beauty in such a cold metal place. He grimaced at that thought and promised their bedroom would be warm for her and he was seriously considering building an apartment around the existing kitchen. He so wanted to make a welcoming home for her.

The floor was the first thing she noticed, a deep chestnut colored, "Bamboo floor," stretched in front of her throughout the room, as he'd explained. The cabinets and the large floating island, "Refurbished vintage cabinetry" sitting atop the floor were all painted a stark white. The contrast with the dark floor was beautiful. The cabinets and island were all topped with a sandy colored, "Cultured marble countertop," that matched the lightest tones in the wood. Delicate wrought-iron handles decorated the front of each cabinet and drawer. She didn't see any large appliances aside from the stove, which was flat against the counter and white to match the cabinets. She supposed the appliances were hidden with matching cabinetry, which was confirmed when Minion pulled open what looked like a tall wide cabinet and it was the refrigerator. "The appliances and fixtures are all new." After that, he just let her look and didn't say anything.

She admired the detail work around the upper matching cabinets, crown molding making a seamless fit with the ceiling, which was painted white so it was easy to ignore the fact that it was lower than normal. The majority of the lighting was recessed so it didn't take up valuable headspace. The island had a small sink in addition to several drawers and cabinets for more storage. A beautiful lighted glass sphere hung directly over the faucet on the sink to provide extra lighting. The mottled caramel colored pattern mimicked the veining of the marble counters. Brushed silver faucets were all that graced the counters, both in the island and by the larger sink situated in the set of cabinets against the wall. A similar light was hung over the other sink between the upper cabinets.

The sections of cabinets were end-capped by a set of posts with ornate tooling, making each length of cabinetry look like an individual piece of furniture. Even the unfortunate but necessary pillar in the middle of the room was decorated so it was unobtrusive, seeming to be merely the end of the island and perhaps a conduit for the electrical lines to the outlets set in the raised wall which created a breakfast bar area. There were two bamboo stools with wicker seats, entirely painted white, pushed underneath the overhang of the bar. On the other side of the bar and far enough away to be considered a different area, there was a moderate sized table with four chairs around it that looked like shorter versions of the barstools. A larger and more ornately beautiful light fixture in the same mottled glass hung lower and dead center over the table, which itself was gorgeous. The legs were made to match the posts on the cabinets in the kitchen and painted white and the tabletop was a color of wood that very closely matched the color of the countertops. The whole effect gave the appearance of a large, old country kitchen, updated but not in such a way as to destroy the historical beauty. "This is so gorgeous."

"Thank you." Then he gestured toward the fish that was busily setting up the supplies to make sandwiches on the other side of the island. "Minion designed it. I helped him construct and install everything, but the design, colors and everything else about the room was all his idea and his choice. He was going to be the one using it mostly, so there was no reason for me to make him suffer my unfortunate affinity for minimalism." If a fish could blush, he would have, furiously. "I mean, it's not that I don't like all this, but I don't need it, so why bother with it, you know? Minion said the aesthetics of the kitchen and quality of the appliances improves the taste of the food, so he got whatever he wanted in here." Megamind led Roxanne to the table and pulled out a chair for her again, sliding it underneath her as she sat down. He sat down at the head of the table.

"So will Minion also design this bedroom and bathroom you're building for us?" Roxanne smiled at Megamind and then looked at Minion. Minion had finished making the two cold cut trio sandwiches, and stood there with two plates in his hand, his mouth agape.

"Sir?"

He'd grinned back at her and then looked to his confused friend as well, "Roxanne is going to move in here; I just need to build a proper bedroom for her first. It wouldn't do to have her sleeping on my old couch." She thought about wanting to try just that. He thought that she might just get her wish. He looked at his friend and saw there was confusion still prevalent on his face. "It just makes sense with the nightmares. Neither of us wants to experience that again. You know I have had nightmares for most of my life, and I can't put her through that every night. Short of alternating sleeping times, I don't see any other way of getting any sleep ever again if we aren't together. And, Roxanne, you are going to design the bedroom and bathroom, remember?" She grinned at him.

The fish placed the plates in front of each of them and stood by the bar. His suit was too heavy to sit in the delicate chairs they had in the room. "Wait. What do you mean, sir?"

"Roxanne and I seem to be linked telepathically. We shared that nightmare I had, too, when we were miles apart. Did you know that was possible for me?"

"Well, Sir. I don't know much about it, but I do remember that the bond between mates for your kind was unbreakable. There was never any secrecy or lies because of the closeness of the paired couples. The bond is solidified the first time a couple uh," if it was possible for a fish to blush he would have, "the first time they, um, mate, Sir." Roxanne and Megamind shared a significant look which confirmed Minion's suspicions that the two had taken that step in their relationship already.

"How do you know that Minion?" Roxanne asked in amazement. She was instantly enamored with the idea of never having secrets and lies be a problem for them, as they had been in so many of her previous relationships, romantic or not. Another reason to love him. They just kept piling up. He smiled warmly at Roxanne, reacting to her thoughts.

"I was five years old when the two of us were shot into space, so I had a fair amount of exposure to the culture and people of my planet. My father was Sir's father's minion and when they decided to send Sir off world to save his life, they sent me with him to look after him." The fish looked back to his life-long charge, "As far as the mutual dream goes, I am sure you both were thinking about each other when you fell asleep, so subconsciously, you were seeking each other out and through the link, managed to find what you were looking for despite the fact that it wasn't at its strongest yet. The fledgling bond was probably helped on by the strength and intensity of your feelings for each other." Roxanne thought that the fish was incredibly perceptive. Megamind agreed wholeheartedly. Their assessment of him was confirmed when, after a moment of silence he added, "If I interpret both of your behavior correctly, then the bond should be solid. If that is the case, distance won't matter at all now, so your plan seems to be the wisest one for the two of you to have any quality of life."

"You always know just what to say, old friend," Megamind said and placed a hand on the ape-suit's fur-covered shoulder.

"Distance won't matter?" Roxanne asked quizzically after listening and processing Minion's answers, one of the last things he'd said sticking out the most.

"No, you two are fully bonded with each other so you will always feel something of Sir no matter how far away you are from him. You may not be able to read each other's thoughts, as I suspect you are doing now, but you will at least feel his emotional state. And he, yours."

"Wow," she said, much to Minion's surprise. "We'll have to find out what the range of hearing thoughts is. Not that I want to go away, but I am curious."

"That's my girl," he smirked, "always asking questions and looking for answers." She felt her heart skip a beat when he'd said she was his girl. She could not recall him having verbally claimed her as his girl or even his girlfriend before now, although both were true. "My Roxanne," he said in response to her thoughts.

"My Naren," she replied.

They exchanged warm smiles and then returned to eating their food. Once they were done, the remainder of the afternoon was spent at the drafting table, designing the two new rooms. The rooms were going to be large and open, as Megamind preferred, and Roxanne insisted on having part of the bedroom partitioned off to be a large walk-in closet. Megamind agreed to the large closet, but not to the loss of space in the bedroom and added an additional small room to the plans, just for the closet. The furniture and other things would be picked out later.

The bathroom, she asked for a large shower and a large tub, thinking about the earlier fun she'd had in her small shower with her boyfriend. He'd immediately agreed on both requests. He amended them only to specify a whirlpool corner tub. The shower, he suggested they add additional shower heads to due to the size, and other undisclosed reasons only Roxanne heard. She grinned and nodded. Minion suggested white travertine tiles for the floor as they were durable and beautiful. He also came up with a pretty glass mosaic design for the shower walls. Roxanne had no idea how they could possibly have all that done in a few days as Megamind seemed to think. "With the help of the Brainbots, it will be ready in no time, believe me."

"Oh, I do," she said.

He noticed the clock on the wall and realized that it was nearly the time he wanted to take her out on the bike. Sunset in the air was always a beautiful thing to watch. She grinned at the thought as it passed through his mind. "I'm ready whenever you are, Naren."

"Sir?"

"Roxanne and I are going on a date!" Megamind said excitedly.

"Oh, well you two have fun!" the fish

He took her good hand in his gently and gave it a squeeze before he turned to walk back toward the workshop where the hoverbike was parked. She followed closely behind him, eager for the thrill of riding that bike again. He'd changed clothes at some point during their planning of the room and was wearing dark blue jeans and a black tee-shirt with his usual boots; she thought he looked incredibly sexy.

He mounted the bike and then pressed the button on the remote to the garage door. He kick started the engine and she got on behind him, then he pushed off the ground to hover slightly. Her arms snaked around his waist and she hugged herself close to him. He flew them out the door and made sure to close it behind him so no intruders would get inside.

* * *

><p>Moments after the garage door had closed, Minion noticed the blinking light on the control board of the news monitoring network and rushed over to the station and pressed the lit button to pull up the website that had triggered the flag.<p>

_"KIDNAPPED? Ace reporter Roxanne Ritchi spotted leaving her apartment with none other than the city's resident Supervillain, Megamind. She did not appear to have been coerced, but she could have been under some kind of mind control. Miss Ritchi had been missing since Monday according to Police. Her whereabouts were entirely unknown until Metro Man reported to Police on Friday night that the reporter had been spotted in her apartment. Has the hero's girl betrayed him for his nemesis? Just where has Miss Ritchi been for the last week?" _There was also a color picture of Miss Ritchi with her arms wrapped around Sir as she held on to him while he drove the air bike. The periodical was a tabloid website, but that didn't mean it wasn't read, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Three more teaser stories popped up shortly after the first, all remarkably similar.

Minion sat in watching in horror for twenty minutes as article after article, videos, pictures and more, reading the decidedly negative direction the comments to the various news articles were taking. He was in utter disbelief. How could a so-called enlightened people be so close-minded about something that was as beautiful as the budding love between his friend and Miss Ritchi. One particular item caught his attention and he read it carefully before deciding to print it out for her to read. It seemed that her former employer had made a statement about her so-called public display. The tone and demeanor of both the articles and their responses gave him much uneasiness. He reluctantly decided to contact his friend, if only to warn him to stay out of the public eye, and said, "Sir," into his communicator.

Unfortunately, he heard his own voice coming from the matching watch that was lying on the drafting table. That was not good. Out of communication and potentially facing hoards of hostile people depending on where they went, he still hoped they would not run into any trouble on their date. He had not been told what the activity would consist of but he hoped they would remain safe and unharmed by the now upset citizens of the city. Minion had never understood why most humans seemed to want the skinny alien to suffer. He, personally, was so happy when he realized that his friend was not alone in his feelings toward Miss Ritchi and that he had actually found true love. He just hoped there would not be any irreparable damage caused by the ignorant angry people, because he knew from experience that you should never underestimate the power of stupid people in large crowds.


	26. The Date

**a/n: Hiya! Short chapter, but I wanted to get this one posted. Little bit more fluff, lots more drama. There's a surprise in there for you, too! Tee hee!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-six: The Date

When they departed the Lair, Megamind headed straight for the sky. Her grip around his waist tightened and she buried her head in his back. As he reached his desired altitude – approximately two thousand feet up - he leveled off and cruised at a more reasonable speed. This distance was usually out of the stalking zone of Mr. Goodie-two-shoes. He flew the bike to the spot he usually went to when he needed time to clear his head. He liked to fly higher than the top of Metro Tower just because he could. He flipped a switch and suddenly, the bike was completely silent.

Roxanne gasped and opened her eyes, then realized that they were standing completely still, hovering very high above the tallest building in the city. She could see it below them in the distance. Everything looked so surreal from this height and she would have been scared were it not for the man she was clinging to. "I didn't think this place really qualified as 'going somewhere' since we stay on the bike. Would you permit me to do something, Roxanne? You would need to trust me." As if he had to ask.

"I thought we were past that. You know I trust you. What is it you want to do?"

"I want to bring you around in front of me." Roxanne wasn't one who was generally afraid of heights, having never really had a bad experience with them that she could recall, but the thought of moving at all from her current position on the bike at this height was dizzying. "I'll make sure you don't fall. Just keep your eyes on me and don't look down."

She liked that idea and affixed her gaze to the side of his turned face. "Okay, so what do I need to do?" He grinned and turned his torso around so he was almost facing her, still securely wrapped in her arms. His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her forward a little. She felt safer instantly.

"I need you to lean forward, but keep your arms around me, and move your left leg around front so you kind of slide around me. I'll help you along." She nodded and picked her leg up slowly, wrapping it around his lower waist, and then began to scoot herself around his left side. Her eyes sought his out as soon as she could see them. He helped her along and soon she was sitting astride the bike backwards, her legs draped over his, their faces mere inches apart. The generous saddle of the hoverbike in addition to the lack of bulk of the driver enabled them to both fit in the seat comfortably.

They locked eyes for a moment before she said, "That was not scary at all."

"You're braver than you realize. It's one of the things I've always admired about you. You were never intimidated by me no matter how hard I tried, you handle your own with Metro _Mahn_, and countless other hard characters you've interviewed. And then, of course, there is your most recent decision, regarding your feelings for me."

"What do you mean? All I did was admit feelings I've been ignoring for years. That's not so brave, especially when I had already pretty much figured out that you shared them."

"But, being with me, despite everything I have put you through in our past - that is brave."

"Not really," she downplayed, "I know now that's not who you really are. Although I think I always knew deep down."

"And, then you have to know some people are going to be upset by us being together. That is going to cause you problems in your professional life," he reminded her of the one part of this whole equation to which she'd given the least amount of thought. Then she realized she absolutely did not care at all what anyone else thought about her life. It was a strange realization for someone who had spent most of her adult life cultivating a public image for the sake of the long-desired job she had at one time believed to be everything she'd wanted out of life.

"You know, I hadn't really thought about that part of this, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't care less about what anyone else thinks."

"That's why you are brave. No one has ever decided to just throw caution the wind to be my friend like you are doing. And then you actually want to _be_ with me. Some people who have known me my whole life I consider acquaintances because they know more than most about me, but you actually took the time and got to know who I am on the inside, and it doesn't seem to scare you."

"That's because 'who you are' is a wonderful person. Once you drop the pretense of being a villain and just let yourself be who you are, there is a remarkably passionate, talented, intelligent, desirable person in there. You just never had the chance to let someone get to know the real you. I am glad I was blessed with the opportunity." She was quiet for a moment and looked toward the horizon, seeing the setting sun already halfway sunk. He turned to look with her. The colors of the clouds around the sunset were all shades of orange, pink, red and purple, fading into the darkening blue of the sky above. It was absolutely breathtaking, and more-so now that she had found someone to share it with. This was someone she wouldn't ever let go; couldn't, really.

"You know, it would be braver of me to decide to just be your friend for the sakes of both of our lives. I know people are not going to be happy and they are probably going to get stupid about it, which usually means unfortunate violence. I mean, look at human history, even with just interracial marriage within same species, people have a problem with it. It's so stupid. But, I just can't let you go. It would make things easier on both of us, but I just can't. I need you too much. That's not brave."

He interrupted her thought, "So, uh, inter-species marriage. Is that something you would be interested in?"

That caught her off guard, but not unpleasantly so. She was never going to let him go and she already loved him more than any man she'd ever known, so not only did it make sense for them to get married, it just seemed right. "Yes."

"Well then. Dear, sweet, witty, fun, sassy, smart, lovely woman I love. You have brought new meaning into my life and I can no longer imagine any life without you. I thank whatever remarkable twist of fate that put you in my life for the opportunity to ask you this question. Roxanne, would you make me the happiest almost-man on this planet and become my wife?"

"Well, I hope I'll make you the happiest _man _on the planet, because yes, I will! But only if that means you become my husband, Naren," she said with a wink. He actually hadn't thought of himself as her husband yet and he smiled widely at the idea. He moved his lips toward hers to capture them in a tender kiss.

"Don't worry, Roxie, I am here to save you!" a most unwelcome voice intruded on their private moment. Roxanne had to wonder if he'd listened to their conversation before interrupting.

"What do you want?" Roxanne said with her voice dripping in annoyance which was not all hers, but felt just the same. Megamind's infuriation at being interrupted at what should have been a time of romantic bliss was palpable.

"What scheme have you cooked up this time, Megamind?" Metro Man continued, as if Roxanne hadn't asked him a question.

"Minding my own business, actually. You should do the same," the blue alien said through gritted teeth, his arms still wrapped securely around his fiancée.

"Roxie, what is going on here?" The white and gold clad hero looked angry and confused. He probably had heard all of their conversation, then.

"It's none of your business, Wayne," she said defensively, and then added, "but if you must know, I am not here against my will."

"Then why are you here?"

Megamind spoke first, although he didn't take his eyes off of Roxanne's. "Not that it is any business of yours, Metro Jerk, but Roxanne and I have come to a new understanding in our relationship which will eliminate the need for your involvement."

He itched to do something about the way the fiend was holding his friend, but she was not asking for his help, so he was confused into indecision, and finally opted for inaction and inquisition. "Roxie, what's he talking about?"

"No, Wayne. You ask yourself the obvious question, because I know you heard what we were talking about just before you got here. Ask yourself, 'Why would Rox_anne_ want rescuing from her fiancé?' I know you heard me say yes to him."

"But Roxie, why are you marrying him? You were only gone for five days! What could possibly have happened in so short a time?" The hero dared not believe that she had actually fallen in love with Megamind.

She looked at her long-time friend with all seriousness and said simply, "I just got to know him." She wanted the hero gone so they could resume their activities, but he didn't seem to believe her. He floated closer to the bike than he had before and reached out for her.

"Don't you dare touch her," the snarl escaped his throat before she could stop him. She reassured him in her thoughts that she had no intention of going with the hero in an attempt to calm him down.

"Wayne, please just go. I told you, I am not here against my will. I love him and I am marrying him, end of story as far as you are concerned."

"He's still an escaped fugitive, Roxie. I should take him back to jail just for that."

"We both know I would escape again. I wouldn't stay in when I was just trying to get rid of you and I won't stay in there now that I have a real reason to want to be out," he sighed. "Look, if it's any consolation, old _friend_, I have no intention of terrorizing Metrocity any longer. I'll even leave you alone if you'll do me the same courtesy."

"Please, Wayne."

He considered what the blue man had said and thought about how nice it would be to have a break from the constant battles with him. "All right, little buddy, I guess I can give you a chance to stay out of prison if you behave. Roxie are you sure you know what you are doing? I mean, he is still a villain."

"Not really." The hero looked completely confused and stared back and forth between the two of them for a moment before he turned and took off. He could tell that he was not going to get anywhere with her with Megamind right there, so he decided to cut his losses and try to talk to her later. They both thought that it wouldn't be the last they'd heard from the hero on the subject.

"Well, that went better than I thought it would have," she said as she returned her gaze to the star-struck eyes of her beloved.

"I can't believe you did that," he said, "that you just told him we are engaged."

"He had heard our conversation, I knew he had. I just didn't want him thinking I was coerced."

"I see."

"Besides, I don't want to keep us a secret, even if it would be smarter. I am much too happy to keep be able to keep this inside." Lost as she was in the moment with him, she forgot temporarily that they were floating thousands of feet in the air. She unwrapped her arms from his waist and moved them to his shoulders, pulling his face to hers and capturing his lips in the kiss that had been interrupted. It seemed as if Fate herself did not want to let them alone because mere moments after they began to enjoy their kiss, Roxanne's cell phone rang. She'd forgotten she even had the damned thing. She sighed and pulled away enough to reach into her pocket and retrieve the noisy device. She briefly thought about dropping it, but decided to actually answer the call when she saw who it was. She'd been expecting to hear from this person much sooner than this, but better late than never. Her sister could be a little out of touch at times, so maybe she hadn't been worried for the entire week like everyone else seemed to have been. She flipped open the device, placed it against her ear and then leaned herself into his chest so he could hold her as she talked. The wind made it hard to hear so she had to press the phone into her ear.

"Hey, Ryan," she said softly. She felt the muscles in his arms tense as she said the name. She reminded him it was her sister and he seemed to relax. Silly spaceman.

"Hey, sis! I heard you were gone for a while, but you're back and apparently you have something you need to tell me about, don't you? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am fine. I've been back in town since last night. And, yes, I do have something to tell you."

"Okay, shoot! It better be good, too." She laughed at her kid sister's tendency to skip over the drama and go straight for the goal in a conversation.

"Well, do you remember how you always used to tease me about being kidnapped every week?"

"Yeah, where are you going with this, Roxie?" Why did no one else pick up on the fact that she called herself Roxanne? No one besides Naren anyway; he'd always used her whole name. She gave him a squeeze and he returned the gesture before she remembered she was talking to someone on the phone.

"Oh, yeah. Well, I have some big news. I am getting married." Well, that makes two people who know now.

"Oh my God! Congratulations!" the younger Ritchi squealed into the phone. Roxanne pulled it away from her ear momentarily. Then her sister said, "Wait! Who are you marrying?"

She thought about telling her sister his real name instead of the stage name and letting the first impression be one in person. He seemed to like the idea of meeting his future sister-in-law with no pretenses, despite the necessity of telling the woman his name and agreed that her idea was a good one, since she was his future sister-in-law. "His name is Naren Aakil and he is who I've been with for the last week. We fell in love and we are getting married. You'll have to come meet him sometime."

"Oh, absolutely, sis! I wouldn't miss it! But, what does this have to do with the kidnappings."

"Oh, uh, he put a stop to them for me."

"So, no more Megamind, then, huh?"

"He'll still be around, I'm sure."

"So, are you with this Naren guy now? Can I talk to him?" Ryan was insistent and she thought about saying no to her but he took the phone out of her hand and pressed it to his ear.

"Good Evening, Miss" he said in his suave voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She smiled and snuggled further into his chest.

He listened to the woman on the other end with amusement as he understood that she had no idea who she was actually talking to. "So, uh, Naren, right? You can call me Ryan. I understand you swept my sister off her feet this week. Going to marry her so suddenly, eh?"

"That is the plan. And, I have known your sister for quite some time, actually."

"Really? I've never heard her mention your name," the young woman shot back.

"I am not surprised. We've only really been acquaintances until recently. And perhaps she has mentioned me before, and you just didn't know it was me she was talking about," he said.

"Well, we'll just have to meet so I can pass along my blessing."

"Certainly, Miss Ryan. I am going to give the phone back to Roxanne now. It was a pleasure speaking with you." He handed the phone back to Roxanne and replaced his arm around her waist, hugging her close as she finished her conversation.

"Well, he certainly is polite. That's a change from the bozos you usually date. Sexy phone voice too. Can I see you soon, sis? I want to meet this guy. And you are so going to have to tell me why there are pictures of you and Megamind all over the internet."

"Okay, Ry. I'll call you tomorrow so we can meet you somewhere. Wait. What pictures of me and Megamind?"

"There's several different but the same pictures of you riding on the back of some kind of jetbike and you are clinging to the blue guy like he's the last man alive. The video shows you kissing him pretty convincingly. I was beginning to worry about you, Sis." Roxanne felt like she was going to be sick. Somehow, someone had gotten pictures and video of her and her love leaving her apartment earlier that day.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Good night, Ryan."

"Night, Roxie." Roxanne closed the phone and pushed it back inside her pocket before returning her arm to its former position around his back.

"There are pictures of us on the internet. Leaving my apartment earlier today."

"Oh really? Well, I guess we'd better check in with Minion. I wonder why he hasn't contacted us." He felt blindly for the watch on his wrist and found nothing there. "Well that explains it. I must have left my watch at home."

"You never have that thing when you need it," she teased him. He laughed out loud and flipped a switch that apparently turned off the hovering mechanism because she suddenly felt herself falling. Her breath caught in her throat.

He grinned and said into her ear as he released her back to hold the handle bars of the bike, "Hold on, my dear." He revved the engine and they shot off toward the lake warehouse area where the Lair was located. Her grip on him tightened and she wrapped both of her legs around his waist in addition to the arms she still had snaked around his shoulders. He descended to a height below the average building in the area when they neared the building he called home and coasted in through the secret entrance the same as they had earlier. She didn't gasp this time because she knew the hologram was there. And she hadn't been looking when they'd gone through. He parked the bike and slid off, still holding Roxanne to him. She unwound her legs from him and placed her feet on the ground before she released his shoulders. He let her go and took her hand as he headed for the bank of monitors they used to keep track of local news and current events of the world with interest.

"Minion!"

"Sir, I am so glad you are home safely."

"We heard there are some pictures of us online," Roxanne said.

"I'm afraid it's more than that, Miss Ritchi." He handed her the paper he'd printed for her and gave his blue friend a significant look.

She took the paper in her hand and read the press release from her former employer with a blank expression on her face. Once she was done, she dropped it on the floor. Megamind picked it up and read the thing, and he could not believe his eyes.

_PRESS RELEASE_

_Scott Broadcasting Company  
>KMCP Network - KMCP 8 News<em>

_Re: Former Employee Roxanne Ritchi_

_Scott Broadcasting and KMCP are saddened to report the termination of employment of a recognizable face on our KMCP 8 News program. While her years of valuable service have been commendable, recent events have led the Station and its parent company to make difficult decisions regarding our future relationship with Miss Ritchi. Her employment was terminated due to a violation of company policy which has absolutely no relation to the recently published pictures, and occurred prior to the event depicted. This Network and our News Station shall offer no further comment on the subject and we respectfully request that no further violence be enacted upon current employees or property of KMCP. Please be advised that any violations of State and Local laws perpetrated against persons or property affiliated with this station will be persecuted to the fullest extent the law allows._

He looked at her with sadness in his gorgeous green eyes, and she said, "They only did that to cover their own butts," she laughed mirthlessly.

"There is more," Minion said quietly.

"More?" she said with disbelief. How could there be more? Did people really care that much about who she was with? Minion pressed a button on the control panel and the screens filled with articles and pictures with angry comments that she couldn't stop herself from reading. She could feel her anger growing as she read, right along side of his as he was engrossed in the same rants and rambles as she was. The people of the city had completely turned on her. Sure there were one or two posts here and there that were in defense of their right to exist and be together, but the vast majority was negative posts and some were angry and even downright ugly, threatening violence if they were ever spotted on the street.

He had known that people would resist the idea and potentially be very angry that he was with Roxanne in such a way. When they found out she was marrying him, they would surely react even more violently. He was used to being treated poorly by most people, and this was no exception, except that he had more to lose this time. Suddenly protecting his newly enlarged family became the only priority he had. Everything else seemed secondary.


	27. Family

**a/n: I am sooooo sorry for the long delays between updates recently. I know I had you all hooked on the every-day updates, but I have been struck with a case of the dreaded writer's block. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. As always, let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-seven: Family

The next morning found a certain sassy brunette and her bald blue man cuddled together on his oversized black leather couch, sleeping peacefully. Neither of them had wanted to risk being spotted by the crowd that had gathered at the base of Roxanne's apartment building, or the drama that would have inevitably ensued, so they had sent a disguised Minion to retrieve some clothes and other items Roxanne might need for a few days. They had been dismayed when he'd returned and reported that what they were protesting was her obviously intimate relationship with an obvious alien. The news showed similar activities outside of the KMCP office despite their press release. Roxanne had thought it served them right for dismissing her the way they had. Eventually, she had decided to sleep on the couch with him, despite his earlier desire to spare her that injustice.

They were both startled by the same sound that had intruded upon their post-proposal bliss. And it was the same person. Roxanne pulled the phone from her pocket and placed it against her ear but did not move otherwise, making it impossible for Megamind to move either. "Good Morning, Ryan."

"Hey, sis."

"Ugh. What time is it?"

"Seven-thirty."

"Why in the hell are you calling me so early on a Sunday?"

"I told you I wanted to see you," the younger woman replied in a chipper voice. It was agreed that Roxanne and Megamind would meet Ryan at her apartment at Ten o'clock. Ryan tried to pry more information out of her sister before the elder Ritchi simply told her to be patient and that everything would make sense in time. The younger girl had grudgingly agreed and Roxanne had snapped her phone shut. They got up off the couch and Megamind went off somewhere while Roxanne took care of her morning routine in the utilitarian bathroom closet. At least the shower had not been too tiny, about the size of a refrigerator. Seriously, the room was so small, she felt like she had to go out into the hallway to change her mind. She realized the impracticality of her desire to move straight in with him given the lack of appropriate facilities. She supposed the construction of the new rooms had been delayed because of the drama last night, but she hoped he hadn't forgotten completely.

Once she was fully dressed again, she went looking for him and found him sitting at a slanted drafting table behind the long red curtain.

"So, do you have a disguise in mind for me?"

"I have just the one, actually!" He turned the dial on the watch that was strapped to his wrist. "I was playing with creating a detailed female avatar after I made the male one I am going to use, and I created this one," he said in a feminine voice. His complexion was the same as hers, but he looked and sounded like a _she_ now. The person who stood in front of him had red-gold hair and a striking face with a long narrow nose, a square-ish jaw, full lips, and his uniquely green eyes. Her clothes were unremarkable, merely black denim jeans and a fitted black tee-shirt with feminine black boots, exactly what she would expect him to be wearing if he was dressed as a woman. "I am afraid I got a bit lazy with the wardrobe. But, you can change the color of the clothes very easily with the computer here at the Lair."

It was strange to hear the woman's voice, knowing she was talking to him. She reached forward and turned the dial on the watch returning his image to normal. "Much better," she smiled at him. He smiled back widely and she asked, "Did you design that avatar yourself or did you use a pattern or something?"

"I created it based on my favorite Star Wars character."

"I don't recognize her from the movies. I've seen all six several times."

"Well, she's not in the movies. But, in the official books, Mara Jade is a character that starts out 'bad' and eventually becomes 'good' over the course of her lifetime. I've been drawn to the character ever since I read the first book. The image I used was from the cover-art off one of the books. It shouldn't be recognizable unless we run into someone who is as big of a Star Wars nerd as I am," he said with a chuckle at himself.

"I can see why you would like the character, Naren," she said, and then added as an afterthought, "My favorite was always Luke Skywalker." She felt a strange sense of happy irony from him before he elaborated on the feeling verbally as he had yet to in his considerable head.

"Well, that's perfect, since Mara and Luke eventually get married."

"I didn't know he got married!" she squealed like an excited fangirl. He laughed.

"He did, but we can talk about that later if you want. We are somewhat limited on time if you do not want to be late arriving at your sister's apartment; especially if you want to change the colors on the clothes." He plugged the watch she would wear into the computer, downloaded the avatar and opened the program to allow her to customize, while he attended to his own morning grooming ritual. She changed the colors to suit her desires, making the jeans dark blue and the shirt white. He returned from his bathroom attired in a new but still all black outfit. The long-sleeved button-down shirt and slacks still suited him. His avatar was a human male with a similar face shape as his own, but he had a large mop of unruly black hair instead of his bald head. He was dressed in the masculine version of the outfit her avatar had been wearing, all baggy jeans and large boots. His green eyes were the only thing she liked about the whole disguise, but then again she was ever-so-slightly partial to him the way he was.

Minion drove the two of them in the invisible car to the area of the building where the younger Miss Ritchi lived. Fortunately, the angry mob hadn't associated Ryan Ritchi with her sister yet, so this place was blissfully free from protesters. The fish pulled the car in behind the building and his passengers waited until they were certain no one was around to see them exiting from thin air, then quickly exited the car. Megamind gave the fish instructions to wait three blocks away in the alley. Roxanne took Megamind's hand and led him around to the entrance of the building. She pressed the button next to the label for her sister's apartment and was amused when the door buzzed immediately, as if she knew who was buzzing her. The walk to the first-floor apartment was brief, as they only had to turn one corner to get there. Roxanne disengaged her disguise before she knocked on the door.

A younger version of Roxanne with long hair opened the door and pulled her sister into a hug and into the apartment. Roxanne pulled Megamind in behind her. He shut the door as he passed through, locking it behind himself as they stopped to finish their hug. Ryan let go of her sister and began to look him up and down. Roxanne headed toward the living room and said, "Hold on, Ry, before you get too far with that, we need to tell you something." Roxanne walked to the window and closed the drapes over the blinds that covered the window, just to be sure no one could see inside the place. The room was suddenly much darker, with only a small table lamp for light, until Ryan pulled a cord attached to her ceiling fan and an unpleasantly bright light came on. It felt like the harsh light in an operating room. He shuddered and moved out from underneath the fan, with Roxanne looking at him apologetically as she knew exactly why he felt that way.

Megamind risked a glance at the fan to see why the light was so abnormally intense and he saw that there was just an exposed bulb hanging there. Though the encounter was brief, the light burned a spot onto his field of vision for several minutes afterward. He instantly had the desire to fix the problem, if only to spare himself an additional optical injury by accidentally looking at the glowing orb of pain again. Roxanne giggled at his distracted thoughts and brought him back to the present. He looked at her and tried to focus around the spot that still slightly clouded his field of vision. Frustrated, he said, "Miss Ryan, pardon my asking but do you have a cover for that light bulb?" Having been completely distracted from the beginning of Roxanne's segue into revealing his true identity, he was still in his human disguise.

"Yes, why?"

"Is there a reason that it's not currently installed?"

"Yeah, I can't reach, even with the stepladder, and the last tall person I had in here was only helpful enough to replace the bulb for me."

He chuckled at her and then looked to Roxanne who pointed at her watch. He looked back at her, somewhat confused, then down at his own watch and noticed that his hands were peach. He grinned at Roxanne sheepishly and then looked back at her sister, thinking that Roxanne should probably continue with her introduction before he fixed the light. He was standing far enough away that the light was not bothering him as long as he did not look at it, so he conceded to wait until after the reveal before busying himself on the task that would not be forgotten until it was accomplished. The light was just too darned distracting to simply be ignored.

"…get to know him, but trust me when you do you'll see the wonderful man I see. So, Naren, go ahead and turn off your disguise." He held up his wrist and turned the dial on his watch. The blue static buzzed and flashed and he resorted to his skinnier, bald, large-headed, blue skinned true self. Roxanne sighed involuntarily. "Ryan Ritchi, meet Naren Aakil a-k-a Megamind."

Ryan's eyes went wide and she looked at her sister. "I knew it!" she cried triumphantly. Megamind cringed, realizing that his chance for meeting her with no pretense was blown, but the next words that came out of the young woman's mouth made him feel vastly better about the situation. "It's about freaking time, sis. You've been crushing on him for wha-mmff mennnf meerff." She tried to keep talking through her sister's hand that suddenly covered her mouth without success.

Roxanne thought about how long she'd had feelings toward him, tracing it back to the first warm feeling the first time she'd seen him deliberately raise the chain she'd been dangled by when one of his pet alligators got too close to reaching her foot. She realized that it was a bit ridiculous to think of such a thing as a term of endearment, but even so, it had been kidnapping number five or six when she'd started to find reasons to like him. Over ten years ago. The thing was, if her sister knew about it, then it meant she'd been talking to her about him for a very long time. That was certainly a conversation for another time. Megamind agreed with her in his thoughts and winked at her; Ryan took advantage of her sister's distraction to squirm out of her grasp.

"Aww, c'mon Roxie. Don't deny it now. I mean, you love him, right? That's why you are getting married."

"I wasn't trying to deny it, Ry. I just wanted to be the one to tell him about that, and I hadn't had the chance yet. And yes, we are getting married because I love him very dearly."

"And I love her more than anything and anyone, including myself," he said with a smirk that made Roxanne laugh. He laughed too and Ryan joined in shortly thereafter. "Now, back to that light bulb. If you will kindly provide me with the cover that is supposed to be there, I will fix it." Then he added, "Please." Roxanne laughed harder at her love's single-mindedness, knowing full well that he would not rest until that blasted bulb was covered. After being provided with the necessary supplies, he made quick work of fixing the offending light fixture and was in the process of stepping down from the small stepladder when a knock at the door startled everyone in the small room.

Ryan looked at the door as if it had made the noise by itself, "I wonder who that could be. No one ever comes to see me." She padded over to the door and looked through the peep hole. "Huh, it's my neighbor. I wonder what he wants." Roxanne looked at Megamind with worry evident in her thoughts and expression. An unexpected visitor was not a good idea given present company. Before Roxanne could stop her, Ryan opened the door and said, "Hey Steve, what's up?"

The man in the hallway pushed his way into the apartment, followed by two other men and a woman, all with cameras and tape recorders, and suddenly the small dark space was invaded by flashbulbs as the intruders captured an image of Roxanne and Megamind fleeing into the bedroom at the back of the apartment. Ryan panicked and reached behind the front door to pull out her metal baseball bat. She held it like she knew how to use it and said in the most intimidating voice she could muster, "You people better get back out of my apartment or I'm going to start swinging."

"You can't do that," one of the male reporters said in a tone of voice that gave the impression of a challenge.

"Watch me. This is private property and you are trespassing. I told you to leave. Who's to say one of you didn't take the first swing. I was just defending myself. What self-respecting judge would believe a bunch of filth like you over an upstanding member of the legal community such as me?" The three intruders immediately stopped trying to get further into her apartment, taken aback by her claims. "In case you missed what I was trying to say, let me clarify for you. Get out now!" She shoved the last of the unwelcome people back out through the door at bat-point and closed it behind her, locking it securely and making sure to slide the chain this time. She took a moment to catch her breath and return the bat to its former position next to the door before she padded toward her bedroom. She opened the door and found her two guests sitting next to each other on her bed with matching worried expressions. "Don't worry. I got rid of them."

"I'm still worried." Roxanne said.

"I know; it can't be that easy. Now that they know we are here, they won't give up. This building will be swamped with people, reporters and protesters alike, in no time. I am afraid that no one is as open-minded about us as you ladies are." He gifted them with a small smile and brought his watch up to his mouth, pressing the button to activate the com-link. "Minion."

"Yes, Sir?" the fish's voice came through the small speaker almost immediately.

"Code: We have a problem. We need to make a quick escape. Where are you currently?"

"Three blocks south of the building, Sir, waiting in the alley, as instructed."

"Okay, be ready to go when we get there, and I mean, foot on the pedal. I have a feeling things are about to get ugly here. We can't leave Miss Ryan here either, she'll be attacked for sure since she's associated with us now."

"Code: Ready and waiting, Sir."

He let go of the button on the watch and his hand fell back to his lap. "Miss Ryan, I'm afraid you are going to have to come with us for the time being, for your own safety." Roxanne was grateful for his protectiveness, and the fact that he effortlessly extended the feeling to her only living family. He looked at her when she thought about that and she returned his gaze, thinking that she would talk about it later. He nodded almost imperceptibly at her and then asked Ryan, "Is there another way out of this building aside from jumping off the roof or throwing ourselves to the ravenous mob outside?" He stood from the bed and Roxanne followed, stretching a little to prepare herself for running since she knew from his thoughts that would likely be happening soon.

Ryan was in a wide-eyed daze as she responded, "Yeah, there's an exit to the alley for people to take out their garbage. We can go out that way." She snapped out of it suddenly as she understood something he'd said, "Wait. What do you mean ravenous mob?"

"Small-minded people in a large group whipped into frenzy in pursuit of a common enemy. Come on, we need to get going." He turned the dial on his watch to reactivate his disguise and motioned for Roxanne to do the same, since she was equally recognizable. "Do you have a hoodie or a hat you could wear to hide your face?" Roxanne turned the dial on her watch at that moment and in a flash of blue static was changed into a completely different person right before her sister's eyes.

Ryan was staring at Roxanne, who was now a gorgeous redhead. Roxanne smiled and shook her head, "Ry, we don't have time for you to be amazed. I'm sure he'll let you play with the watch later."

"Oh, sorry. That's just really cool," she said as she walked into her bedroom to get her favorite fisherman style hat. With her hair down, it covered most of her face. She re-emerged and said, "I'm ready."

Megamind pulled his De-gun out of its holster under the disguise and glanced apologetically at Roxanne. She smiled and answered his unspoken question, "It's okay. I wouldn't generally condone you using that weapon on people, but those creeps deserve to be dehydrated for a little while. Do your worst, my love."

He grinned and walked over to the front door. He cracked it and poked an eye out. The three people who had tried to get at them before were standing in the hallway a little ways down from him. He aimed the gun through the crack and pulled the trigger three times, each time holding it for twenty seconds. By the time the third person realized what was happening, he'd already taken aim and pulled the trigger to dehydrate her as well. The neighbor had gone into his own apartment, so he was nowhere to be seen and once the last reporter was reduced to a glowing blue cube, the coast was clear. He closed the door and re-holstered his weapon, then removed the chain lock and opened the door again. "Shall we?"

The two women walked into the empty hallway, followed by Megamind who pulled the door shut. Ryan took the time to lock up and then led their little group to the alley-side exit. She kept her head low and they made it to the door quickly. Megamind again opened the door a crack to see what awaited them on the other side and was thankful to see nothing but a dingy alley. He stepped out of the door himself and gave a good look around just to be sure before he allowed the women to emerge. They quickly walked toward the end of the building and as they approached the corner, they all noticed a large number of people starting to swamp the area, blocking vehicular and pedestrian traffic from moving along the street. He froze for a moment as it occurred to him that this would be the first field test of the disguise generators in a crowd. While Ryan Ritchi was not recognizable, if the disguises failed, he and Roxanne were as good as cooked and Ryan would most likely be included as an accomplice.

He swallowed his panic with help from a comforting thought of Roxanne's and took his fiancée's good hand to make sure they did not get separated. She linked arms with her sister, since her hand still hurt a little, and Megamind began to slowly lead them through the crowd, praying all the while that the disguises would work the way he'd intended. The rowdy crowd seemed intent on separating the trio, bumping and jostling them as they made their way through. The disguises worked perfectly despite all of the jostling the wearers were receiving, much to the subdued joy of their creator. Once they were past the small part of the crowd that had blocked their path, they picked up the pace and ran to the end of the next building, stopping only long enough to make sure there was no traffic before they ran across the road and down the sidewalk to the next alley. He again stopped and checked for traffic and was dismayed to see a large group of people standing in the alley a little ways away, apparently awaiting just such an escape attempt.

Having no reason to suspect that their disguises would not continue to work as they had previously, he began to quickly make his way across the street to the last building before the alley where Minion was waiting. Halfway across the street, he felt a sudden tug on his arm and turned around. "Roxanne," he exclaimed involuntarily when he saw her on the ground in obvious pain. She'd tripped over some trash in the road and twisted her ankle which made it impossible for her to move any further without assistance.

Someone in the group heard Megamind exclaim her name and turned to look at the three people in the street. "That has to be them in disguise! He said Roxanne!" The crowd all simultaneously looked in their direction and immediately began to move toward them. Megamind acted immediately, picking Roxanne up in his arms and running at full speed for the corner to safety, hoping desperately to make it before the crowd saw where they went. Ryan kept up well enough that he did not have to worry about her. He managed to round the corner before the first person in the crowd made it to the end of the alley to see where they were, but he knew it would not be long before they figured it out. There were only so many places three people could have gone. He kept running at full speed toward the sliver of black leather in thin air he was just beginning to see as Minion pushed the door open for him from the inside of the car. Ryan, who had been on his heels the entire time, climbed over the seat and Megamind got into the car after her with Roxanne still in his arms. He set her down in his lap and closed the door behind them just as the fish slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. The mob behind them stared in confusion as loose papers and trash whipped around in the wake of nothing as it sped off into the distance.

**a/n: Just a little tidbit of info if you were curious. :) Mara Jade was introduced into the Star Wars universe in the Heir to the Empire (or Thrawn Trilogy) series of novels written by Timothy Zahn. It's an excellent read if you ever wondered what happened _after_ Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. **


	28. Complications

**a/n: Well, I can't really say the block has lifted entirely, but this chapter was easi_er_ to write. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Chapter Twenty-eight: Complications

In the days and weeks that followed, public opinion regarding Roxanne and Megamind's relationship only got worse. This was not helped by the fact that Metro Man had declined to offer any public comment on the fact that his purported ex-girlfriend was now with his nemesis. He didn't feel the need to respond because she had never been his in the first place, but because he avoided the topic all together, the public had decided that their hero was too hurt by the evil blue alien and his brainwashed-to-be-evil woman to speak about it, and declared her worse than the devil for treating the hero in such a way. While the mobs of protesters eventually died down, the media hounds were not dissuaded by the fact that their prey was in hiding, and continued to run negatively biased articles and reports about them, which garnered lots more angry responses from the citizens. It was an attempt to flush them out by angering the couple, demanding a reaction, as neither of the people involved had yet made a public response to their now very public relationship. Their ploy did not work the way they had wanted, but an opportunity presented itself one morning.

Roxanne stood by the front door to her former apartment building, enjoying the warm late afternoon and the fact that people had more or less left her alone for the better part of the last week, although she hadn't really been out and about much during that time. She hadn't wanted to be out much during that time, but she'd wanted to oversee the final stages of moving out of her apartment, and she had to be there in person for the walk-through with her landlord, so she'd insisted Megamind not wait with her when he'd brought her there that morning. He needed to put the finishing touches on the final living areas of the apartment he'd constructed for them inside the Lair and direct the placement of the last of her furniture. Having already paid the last month's rent when she signed her lease, she took her time moving her things out as the apartment was finished in sections, although she had already been living with him for well over a month because he'd completed the bedroom and bathroom as quickly as he'd promised despite the drama with the public. Ryan stayed there most nights, first on the couch and then in the guest room he'd constructed for her, which seemed to make Roxanne very happy. Her soon to be former building had an overprotective doorman who still held a fatherly soft spot for her, so he'd felt comfortable leaving her inside the building with strict instructions to stay inside until he came back for her.

The soon-to-be Mrs. Aakil had turned in her notice of intent to vacate and now that she'd finished removing her belongings, she'd relinquished her keys. She found herself standing outside of the building in the open waiting for Megamind to arrive, thinking about the happy news she had to share with him that she'd leaned only an hour ago, when they converged on her. She was overwhelmed instantly as the mob of angry people pushed, pulled, grabbed, punched, scratched and shoved her around. She began to feel dizzy as she felt the intense wave of panic coming from him when he sensed her distress, and then the shoving got worse. She knew he was almost there, but a fist made contact with her face and her eye felt like it had exploded. She felt faint from the pain and before she knew it, she was on the ground and a large man loomed into her field of vision and began to kick her. She curled her knees up instinctively to protect herself and wrapped her arms around her head as the feet and fists continued to pound her anywhere they could.

"Roxanne, no!" Megamind screamed as he saw her head dip below the surface of the crowd. He was too late. He drew his gun and despite the intense hatred he felt for the people, he set it to De-hydrate, turned the power up to a dangerous level for the sake of speed, and began shooting. He took out a large number of the crowd in rapid succession. The rest who were not occupied with whatever treatment they were giving Roxanne began to back away, not wanting to be De-hydrated themselves. He fired several more times to take out her attackers and rushed to her with horror on his face as he saw her bruised and bloodied form shivering and crying in the fetal position on the ground. He thanked whatever benevolent being was listening that she was still alive as he knelt down next to her and caressed her face gently with his gloved hand. Still leveling his gun at the suddenly encroaching angry gawkers, he hissed through gritted teeth, "Get back, you savages!" But, they didn't stop.

"Freak!" someone yelled from the back of the crowd. He stood up and glared at them all, his finger just itching for a reason to start pulling the trigger on the gun that was trained on the closest person to them. "How dare you steal one of our women!" another person shouted. Other louder, less intelligible insults were hurled at him as the crowd gained momentum and confidence due to their numbers, but he didn't listen. He knew he needed to get them both out of this situation as quickly as possible. Roxanne needed a doctor badly and he needed to know without a doubt she was okay. She felt incredibly week through their bond and he worried that she was dying and he wasn't doing anything about it. Without consciously deciding to do so, he began to fire into the crowd repeatedly and got most of them. He moved forward and away from Roxanne as he was shooting into the crowd, in order to protect her and draw the attention of the remaining mob to him. He could take a lot of damage if need be and survive. She probably couldn't handle much more than she'd already endured. Five men of different sizes managed to get through his defenses and surround him and one of them knocked the gun out of his hand.

The men circled around him, each one about six feet away from him. The fat red-headed one he might have recognized spoke, "So, you little blue Freak, you thought you could just turn one of our prime women into your little whore, didja?"

"No. I turned her into my wife." In the legal sense of the word the humans used, it was not true but in every way that mattered, it was, and the legal part was just logistics he hadn't worked out yet. The even more enraged red-headed assailant charged blindly. He was met with a boot to the side of his face as Megamind executed a perfect round-house kick, sending him sprawling onto the ground. The four remaining men, having waited to see what the outcome of the encounter with their self-appointed leader, all came at him at once. He surprised two of them by jumping up and kicking his legs out to each side at the appropriate angles, causing both men to run into his feet due to their own momentum. Both men staggered back and fell to their knees covering their bloody noses with both hands and despite one being more than a foot taller and much skinnier than the other, were almost a mirror image of each other. If the situation hadn't been so dire, he might have found it somewhat comical.

He felt a fist come into contact with his face, causing him to step back and instinctively swing his right fist toward the person who had hit him. He made contact, but it was a glancing blow. He followed it up with a solid left hook that sent the attacker flying away from him several feet and crashing into the wall of the building. The last guy stood in stunned fear, having stopped when he saw what was being done to his cohorts who were all more muscular than he was, even the fat one. Megamind glared at him and retrieved his De-gun from the pavement near Roxanne, took aim and fired. He reduced the other four attackers to glowing cubes, holstered the weapon and knelt down by Roxanne, trying to assess her condition and figure out the safest way to move her without causing more damage.

"Megamind, what have you done?" the white and gold clad hero said as he descended into the empty street littered with more than a hundred glowing blue cubes. He looked at the blue alien who was kneeling next to Roxanne in the road.

"I just saved her life, no thanks to you, _hero_."

"What do you mean? What did you do to her?"

"Look at her! I couldn't have done this to her, you moron, how could you even say that?" he spat at the muscular man hovering nearby as he knelt down to pick Roxanne up. Someone must have seen her in the apartment and set up the ambush. He'd bet good money that it was the red-haired one. "Your so-called helpless citizens did this to her and I almost didn't make it in time to stop them before they caused irreparable damage. She needs a doctor now, so if you don't mind…" The hero moved toward Roxanne, presumably to give her a lift to the hospital, but Megamind finished scooping her up and she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders. He gave a hateful look to the muscular man hovering nearby as he cradled her in his arms. "Unless you are actually going to show up in time to help, next time don't bother coming at all."

The shorter man walked away from the stunned hero and carried his damaged and distraught fiancée to the invisible car that was stopped on the sidewalk next to where the crowd had been gathered. He'd left it running and the only reason it wasn't moving forward was that the bumper was resting gently against the concrete planter in the courtyard in front of her building. The driver's side door was still open, so he got inside and laid Roxanne down in the seat with her head on his lap. She curled back into the fetal position and he grimaced as he pulled the door closed and backed the car up enough to clear the planter before he put it in drive and took off down the road toward the hospital. He parked the car on the side of the road, still invisible, and had the forethought to activate his human disguise before he got out of the car, gently pulling her with him and into his arms, cradling her like a child as he rushed forward.

He walked quickly through the sliding doors under the sign that read 'Emergency Department' and then straight up to the nurse at the triage desk. "My wife needs medical attention immediately!" Roxanne's face was so badly bruised that she was not recognizable, so when the nurse asked for her name, he said, "Annie Aakil. Please help her!" Suddenly two orderlies approached with a gurney and he laid her down. She turned on her side again and curled into the fetal position. He followed the various medical personnel and the gurney as far as they would let him before they wheeled it into an examination room.

A man in a white lab coat rushed in and spoke to some of the other people in the room, then began to examine and speak with Roxanne. He saw her respond to the doctor's questions and although he couldn't hear what they were saying, he could feel a deep sense of dread wash over her and then she deliberately redirected her thoughts so he couldn't tell why she was so worried. That concerned him. The activity in the room continued for several minutes as the personnel did their jobs. Slowly, the nurses and technicians began to leave the room to have whatever tests performed they needed and the man in the white coat approached the double doors where Megamind was standing. "Are you her husband?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Aakil, I am Doctor Weatherby. Can you tell me what happened to Annie?" he asked with the air of a man who'd seen far too many domestic violence cases in his tenure.

His voice was broken and honest, "Sh – she was attacked by a group of people. I just got to her in time to get them away from her," he sighed, "but they had beaten her up pretty badly before I got there. Will she be okay? Please tell me she'll be ok, doc." His big green eyes bore into the grey ones of the taller and older man, imploring him to believe.

"We are running some tests to be sure, but she is awake and lucid, so the prognosis is good until we determine otherwise. You can go in and see her now but we will have to take her for some x-rays in a few minutes." He nodded and pushed his way into the stark yellow room. The ceramic tiles were meant to be a sunny color but the aged tiles were more a brownish yellow color instead which gave the room a very depressing feel. He was at her side in moments, holding her hand and smiling down at her and looking into her one opened eye. The other was swollen shut and beginning to turn a most disturbing shade of dark purple. Her lip was swollen and cut but she smiled back at him. Her presence felt stronger to him which was a small comfort.

"Hey beautiful," he said gently around the lump in his throat. She started to chuckle, which turned into a cough and ended in a grimace as the pain in her ribs overcame her. He placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder to steady her and gently push her back down to lie on the bed.

"You'd be handsomer if you were you," she said in a very weak voice. Tears welled up in her eyes and she said, "I love you, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I didn't stay inside like you said. I'm so, so sorry."

"Oh, Roxanne. Please don't say that. You shouldn't have to stay inside just to be safe. This is not your fault at all." He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as the doctor walked in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Aakil, We have the blood tests back and we won't be able to take any x-rays. Did you know you're pregnant?"

"She is?" he asked and looked back at her. "You are?" he asked with a mixture of excitement and confusion. She just nodded in confirmation. This was not the way she wanted him to find out.

"Yes, and although the physical examination I performed earlier seemed to indicate you have not suffered any damage to your vital organs, and you said you were not experiencing any internal pain except in your ribs, I want to do an ultrasound to ascertain the status of your pregnancy. Do you have any idea how far along you might be?"

"Seven weeks at most," Megamind replied quickly for her. They both agreed to the test and the doctor approached with a technician in blue scrubs who wheeled in a piece of equipment that Megamind recognized to be an ultrasound machine. As soon as the machine was in position, the doctor dismissed the tech.

The doctor coated the wand with the conductive gel and placed it gently against the skin on her abdomen. Roxanne reached a shaky hand out to him. He took it in his as they watched the grainy display on the monitor. Two small oblong black orbs appeared in the grainy cone on the small screen of the ultrasound machine. Each orb contained two white blobs, one small and round and the other slightly larger and more irregular in shape. "Well, well, it looks like twins, and yes, they are at about seven weeks of age judging by the size of the embryos."

"Really?" she asked with more strength than she'd shown yet.

"Yes. And I am encouraged by the fact that there does not appear to be any distress and you are not experiencing any pain in the vicinity. But, I want to monitor your condition for twenty-four hours, just to be safe. You never can be too careful with internal injuries really, especially since we can't take x-rays. You have several bruised ribs and more cuts and bruises than I would ever want to see on such a pretty face, Miss Ritchi." Roxanne and Megamind both looked at the doctor with panic evident on their faces. The doctor simply smiled, "Rest assured that your secret is safe with me." He paused and then made eye contact with Megamind, "When you said she was attacked, that made me suspicious. And then, your unique eyes are recognizable in any face if one simply pays attention to detail." The casual tone of his voice was not enough to convince the two of his intentions so he elaborated further, "Look, even if it wasn't a professional obligation for me to keep doctor-patient confidentiality, I still wouldn't turn either of you over to those mindless idiots, and this will not be noted in the chart so you won't have to worry about the staff."

"Thank you," they said in unison. The doctor nodded and ripped off the paper printout of the image of the couple's twins in their earliest stages of life and placed it in Megamind's outstretched hand. He wiped the gel off of Roxanne's stomach and lowered her shirt.

"Well, I'll leave you two to talk while I take care of the paperwork to get you into a private room for the night." The doctor smiled again at his patient and then looked back at Megamind briefly before walking out of the room.

Megamind stood next to Roxanne's gurney holding her hand and staring at the slip of thermal paper in his hand. Roxanne watched his face with trepidation. "I'm so sorry," she said again. He wished she would stop apologizing, none of this was her fault.

"Why are you sorry? Wait. How long have you known?"

"I just found out this afternoon."

"This morning?"

"Yes," she started. Then all of her worrying came out in a rush, "I know I should have known sooner, but I've been so distracted with you lately, not that I would have wanted it any other way, but I just wasn't paying attention to my own body and then when I found a box of pregnancy tests I had stashed in my bathroom, I remembered that I should have been inconvenienced by now, so I took one of the tests and it was positive. I was going to tell you in the car when you picked me up. I'm so-"

"Please stop saying that. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, my love. And you heard the doctor," he said to help calm her back down, "everyone will be okay." He hoped with everything that he was that it was true and she seconded that hope. He leaned down and kissed her forehead again and then placed a very gentle kiss on her battered lips.

"Mr. Aakil," said a tall round nurse who stood just inside the door. He looked at the woman who continued, "I need you to wait outside while we get Mrs. Aakil ready to be moved into her room, if you please." She indicated the door and he nodded. He turned back to Roxanne and placed another kiss on her forehead and squeezed her hand before he moved away and stepped outside the room. The nurse busied herself disconnecting the leads from the equipment in the room. He focused on Roxanne's open eye and she on his and before long, the rails were up and he had to move out of the way as the nurse and two orderlies were pushing the bed out of the double doors. He followed closely behind as they wheeled her down the hallway, around a corner and into a small room with equipment attached to the walls and no bed inside, only a padded chair in the corner. He stayed in the hallway as they reconnected the monitors to the equipment in the room, only entering to take his spot beside her bed for the duration of her stay once the other people had left the room. He had dragged the chair next to the bed and sat down. She'd fallen asleep during the ride from the emergency department and he took his hand in hers as he sat in the chair near the bed.

He held his wrist up to his mouth pressing the button to open a com link and said, "Minion."

"Yes, Sir."

"I need you to come to the hospital and pick up the invisible car. I am going to be here overnight."

"What? Why are you in the hospital?"

"Roxanne was attacked. I rescued her but they messed her up pretty badly, Minion," he sounded upset and lost at the same time. "And there's more. We're expecting."

"Expecting what, Sir?"

"Twins." Silence fell on the com line until he heard a distinctive female squeal from his future sister-in-law.

"Wow, Sir! Congratulations!" the fish gushed from the little speaker. Then he said, "Wait. Is everything okay with the uh…everything?"

Megamind chuckled mirthlessly, "It appears to be so far. Doctor Weatherby wants to keep her overnight and monitor her for possible complications that may not come up right away. I am not leaving here without her. Please come get the car. It's parked on the side of the Spruce Street, invisible, next to the fire hydrant."

"Yes, Sir, just let me know if anything develops and when you need me to pick you two up. Give Miss Ritchi a hug from me if it won't hurt her."

"I will. And please tell Ryan not to come here. We will be home tomorrow, I promise. She can take care of her sister then. I don't think Roxanne can take any more company right now. She's been through hell and she needs to rest."

"Oh, fine," he heard the voice of Ryan say quietly through the com link. He closed the channel and resumed watching over his beloved, his hand over hers as they rested on her stomach. Something had been eating at him for several days and he now knew what it was. No matter how many individuals they had on their side, the majority of people were not going to just accept them, and especially not now. He was beginning to think that leaving the city would be their only option for having any kind of peaceful life together, although he had avoided the thought for a long time because he knew Roxanne loved this place. But, he wasn't going to live without her, and he could never let something like this happen to her again. He'd put a lot of effort into perfecting the home he'd built for them inside his lair, but it was clear that short of staying inside all the time, they would have to leave. He sighed under the weight of the responsibility he had willingly shouldered.

In two short months, he'd gone from career criminal with no foreseeable future aside from constant conflict to a man with so much to lose that his heart almost couldn't bear it. His family: Roxanne and her sister, Minion and now the twins, were all his responsibility, and he had to protect them. He knew he would have no help from the purported champion of justice, so he had to find somewhere safe for all of them to live. As he thought about it, he remembered a small spit of land he'd picked up in an overseas venture several years ago. It was not developed or sophisticated by any means, but it was secluded and safe, and he could build whatever they needed. The little island had some resources. He would try to wait to talk with her until she was discharged from this place, but he knew that once she picked up on his thoughts, she would ask about it. She wasn't going to like the idea of leaving her home behind, but he hoped she would see the logic in it and not make him take her with him forcibly. He absolutely could not and would not let his family be separated.


	29. Epilogue: And They All Lived

**a/n: This has been an interesting ride for me, starting in late November when I began writing this story and through the worst case of writer's block I've ever had, despite the times I just gave up on other stories. I guess that would mean this was the worst because I actually tried to overcome it and finish instead of giving up. I am so happy you all have been here to experience this journey with me. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! You guys make me so happy when I get a Review Alert email, and celebrating 152 reviews as I post this last installment, I hope I continue to receive your comments. This story by itself, with no author's notes or disclaimers, etc., is over 80,000 words now and is officially the longest thing I have ever written and successfully completed. **

**Anyway, I hope that I have done the story justice with this ending. As always, please let me know what you think about this chapter, the story, my writing, whatever you want to comment on. It all feeds my muse, positive or negative. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Megamind other than my DVD, my soundtrack and my obsession! Nods to Dreamworks for this excellent addition to my collection.**

**Summary: Pre-movie AU. Something goes horribly wrong with one of Megamind's battle suits and he and Roxanne wind up stranded in the middle of a desert with nothing but each other to aid in their survival. Will they make it?**

Stranded

Epilogue: And They All Lived

Roxanne's wounds had been mostly superficial and Doctor Weatherby – James as he'd instructed them to call him – had released her with a clean bill of health the next day with the order to take it easy so her pregnancy would not suffer any possible future complications. Megamind had arranged delivery of a holowatch for her and they'd left the hospital in disguise. The talk with Roxanne had gone remarkably well in his opinion, as she'd agreed readily with his proposal. They had asked Ryan as well, since she was an adult and had the right to choose for herself. She'd looked at Minion briefly before declaring that she could not stay here without her sister, so she had no intention of being left behind. All of Megamind's inventions had been dehydrated and placed in a lockbox for safekeeping. An envelope with several thousand dollars was delivered to the good Doctor as thanks for his service and discretion. An even larger sum was donated to the prison in the name of Naren Aakil. Only the Warden knew the significance of the donation, and made sure to use the money to upgrade the prison's educational facilities and library in honor of Mr. Aakil. It did not take long to dehydrate and pack up their belongings and they left within seventy-two hours of the incident.

Before they'd packed up that particular equipment, the news monitoring network had picked up on a report concerning the keywords Megamind and Roxanne Ritchi. Metro Man, it seems, was finally shaken out of silence by the violence that had been perpetrated against Roxanne. He'd seen to it that the entire mob had been charged with attempted assault and the ones that had actually attacked her had been brought up on attempted murder charges. It was fairly easy to reconstruct the scene since he had seen where she'd been laying, so he'd known exactly which cube had contained those that had been intent on doing physical harm. Roxanne had given authorization to the hero to proceed on her behalf when he'd shown up at the hospital and begged for the chance to make amends for his callousness. Megamind was not happy with the idea but Roxanne had agreed and he and his family were well on their way to being settled in their new home when Wayne announced that he was quitting the hero game since there was no longer a super villain to fight. Metro Man became simply Wayne Scott, the mediocre Music Man. His life was a lonely one, until he met a remarkable single mother named Julia Stone. She was a waitress at a club he frequently performed in who not only liked his music, but also happily excited feelings in his heart that he hadn't felt since the first time Roxanne had turned him down so many years ago. He'd fallen quickly in love with Julia and married her, adopting her two sons, Michael, an infant, and Nathan, a two year old, as his own and making them the heirs to the Scott fortune. He lived in his parent's mansion with his new family and ignored the critics who said he was irresponsible for not continuing to use his powers to benefit the city.

Roxanne, Megamind, Minion and Ryan arrived on the recently-named island of Heima, meaning _home_, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean by boat that had been purchased in Hawaii when they'd arrived in disguise via a chartered jet. The island itself could not be seen for the constant ring of clouds that surrounded the place, courtesy of one blue genius who had installed the protection as soon as he had acquired the island so many years ago, in an attempt to create a place of solitude for himself. As a villain, he'd missed the attention too much to spend any time there, but now that he had a family to share it with, it seemed to be the ideal of perfection. The funny thing about it was that once you broke though the cloud wall, the sun shone brightly on the clear blue water and white sandy beach. A small hut-style house was set under the trees just off the beach and the sparkling water seemed almost magical. The clouds which concealed them from above were merely a holographic projection, so from underneath, the sky was visible and the sun shone through because the vegetation needed sunlight to survive. The projection device and cloud machine were installed at the top of a tall tower in the middle of the island. The area was only about twenty thousand square feet but there was a small jungle with lots of trees, a few edible species of small animals and plenty of fertile ground perfect for growing their own food. He had invented a machine to filter water in order to create Minion's habitat a long time ago. The technology had easily been converted to provide an unlimited supply of fresh water for the new residents of the small island.

Roxanne had been so impressed when they'd arrived at the island. She was grateful they had a place to be together free from persecution. She knew they were somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but she had no idea where, and she didn't really care to know since everyone that mattered to her was right there. She'd settled into her new life with remarkable ease, finding ways to stay busy by making the small house a little homier and keeping a detailed record of their time. Minion married them in a ceremony on the beach with Ryan as a witness, and they lived happily together as husband and wife for many months in the small hut as Megamind constructed a larger sturdier house deeper in the small but lush jungle. Once they moved into the large house, life became vastly more comfortable. The bond she shared with her husband and soul-mate only grew stronger with the passing of time. He'd constructed a generator that ran off of the same mysterious perpetual energy that powered the De-gun, the binky, and every other invention he'd ever created, so they had electricity; and with the water filtration and waste recycling system he'd created, he had managed to install indoor plumbing for them as well.

As Roxanne's pregnancy progressed, Minion, who had downloaded several e-books on child birth prior to leaving in order to refresh the studies he'd done as a youngster, having been fascinated by the entire human reproductive process from a young age, prepared himself with diligence so he was able to serve as a mid-wife. Megamind studied the same materials himself in detail, doing his best to keep Roxanne comfortable during her pregnancy and before long, it came time her to give birth to their first two children. Minion did not trust Roxanne's health surviving a double birth the natural way, so they'd opted to do a cesarean section. Megamind had assisted with the delivery because there were two babies and because Minion's fingers were not delicate enough to perform the task. Megamind took care to stitch up her incision himself so that it would heal with minimal scarring if possible. Their baby girls both had no hair and larger than normal craniums, but one looked like her and one looked like him. They called the blue eyed baby who looked like her father Harmony and the green eyed baby who looked like her mother Melody, because each was the perfect blending of their two souls. They were spoiled children with four adults devoted to keeping them happy and healthy. They were so loved, however, that they both became genuinely nice people anyway.

The binky presented a bit of a problem when the girls were very small. They learned from Minion that the energy from the binky helped the developing brain of a child of Megamind's race, and although his children were only half him, they still needed the energy both to alleviate growing pains and to help their brains develop to their fullest extent. Fortunately, the daily dosage required was not so much that they couldn't let the girls alternate which one got the real binky and which one got the fake pacifier he'd made that lit up a green color, but otherwise looked just like the original; it just didn't have the same effect for some reason and Megamind could never figure out why. It did accomplish the task of placating the girl who didn't have the binky, so it served its purpose. Once the children were six months old, the need for the binky had passed and they were able to put them away.

At first, Aunt Ryan wanted nothing more than to dote on her nieces, content with her life for a time. Over the years, she and Minion became as close as a fish and a human could and she found a deeper love than she'd ever experienced in a typical human relationship. Megamind had constructed a smaller, softer robot body with more delicate fingers and sensitive tactile sensors for the fish so that he would be able to be gentle when handling the infant children. It came in very handy when he began to realize his feelings for Ryan were returned in kind. Their relationship was never a sexual one, but he could hold her without fear of hurting her, and most of the time, that was enough. At times when they wanted to be closer, to actually touch each other, they would go for a private swim in the small lagoon on the opposite side of the island. Megamind constructed the house in the woods with enough space for them to all live together, and time alone was not always the easiest thing to get, but they were content to only escape once in a while, allowing Megamind and Roxanne the same privilege occasionally as well.

When Harmony and Melody were five, Roxanne got pregnant for the second time. This time, there had been no real way to tell what she was having until their third and fourth children arrived. They had ascertained there were two babies growing in their mother's womb before the delivery, so they were again prepared for the cesarean section needed to safely deliver the two large-headed babies. The two beautiful blue baby boys, each of whom had their father's intense green eyes, were cleaned up and presented to their mother. Roxanne was overjoyed and Megamind was lost in the overwhelming emotions of love they shared for each other and the four children they'd created. After a few days of talking about it, they named their boys "Riley," meaning 'courageous' and, "Rylan," after the 'island meadow' the twins had likely been conceived in. Rylan's name had actually come first when they were discussing it and she'd agreed before she'd known what it meant. Ryan liked it and Roxanne had fallen so in love with the name that when he finally did tell her why he'd suggested it, she had already decided that Riley would make a good complementary name and was too attached to the idea to change it. So, it stuck. She'd never gotten mad at him about it either, and he always wondered if she secretly found his little joke slightly funny, especially since the name was one she liked so much, and the two of them were the only ones who knew the real meaning behind it.

Minion was put in charge of the domestic side of the children's academic studies and Ryan took care of their creative artsy interests with drawing and music. Ryan had learned to play the piano as a child and was quite proficient. When Minion had learned of it, he, with the help of Megamind, had been able to construct one for her using materials he found on the island in conjunction with some more repurposed parts of one of Megamind's formerly evil inventions. An acoustic guitar was also constructed as it had always been the favorite instrument of Minion's. Roxanne and Megamind had learned to play as well as the children who wanted to, and they would sometimes entertain their children by playing made up duets together. Ryan and Minion would take their turn performing in their own way, he on his guitar accompanying her on the piano.

All four children were exceptionally brilliant and their teachers constantly had to put them to the next intellectual test to keep their interests piqued. Megamind, or Naren, as he was permanently called by Ryan, Roxanne and Minion from the time that Harmony and Melody had been old enough to talk at three months of age, handled teaching science, math and anything having to do with creative construction, and he vastly enjoyed playing with the boys once they were old enough to roughhouse.

Roxanne, with Minion's help, taught the children how to garden and cook to create food for the family and so they could take care of themselves. She also helped each of her children cultivate a healthy love for the written word, developing their imaginations which were already pre-disposed to be overactive. Minion's vast collection of e-books was very large and widely varied and Megamind had been able to repurpose some of his old inventions to create everyone their own e-reader. They spent time every day reading together as a family, sometimes out loud so everyone could enjoy the presentation of the same story at once, and sometimes in quiet, each of them reading what they wanted. She also loved to spend time with her girls, teaching them poise and grace and how to be strong women. They both developed her sassy attitude and no-nonsense outlook on life. The most important lesson she imparted on all of her children, however, was to never give up on finding the truth because you never know what you might gain. Harmony, Melody, Riley and Rylan all particularly loved to hear the story, the somewhat romanticized version – of course, of how their parents fell in love and came to live on the island with Uncle Minion and Aunt Ryan. Naren loved to interject and help Roxanne retell the story of their journey toward discovering the love they held for each other, sometimes taking over completely himself. The children all cherished watching how much in love their parents were, despite their obvious differences. Uncle Minion's and Aunt Ryan's very close friendship also helped to solidify the children's belief that true love could exist in any form.

When any of the children asked why they never left the island, as they all inevitably did, Megamind sat down with the one that asked and slowly explained that the world outside of their little paradise was not a happy place for different people. It did not accept people like them, with their blue skin and obvious intellectual advantage, their obvious differences. The three who had always dreamed about the outside world they'd only ever read about still wanted to leave the island to try their own luck at having a good life amongst the humans like their mother. They believed their father when he told them about the outside world, but none of them could ever figure out how a place so horrible could have been the same place that Mommy and Aunt Ryan came from. They had asked because being inquisitive the way they all were, they all noticed that neither of the women in their lives was mean and cruel the way Daddy had described the humans to be. Megamind had explained to his children that Mommy and Aunt Ryan were both very exceptional humans, and very few others on the planet were as accepting of their particular differences as they were.

Eventually, when the children were old enough to decide for themselves, Roxanne and Megamind, with the full support of Ryan and Minion, gave their babies the chance to fly away from the nest if they so desired. Harmony left with her brother Rylan as soon as they could get Aunt Ryan to take the boat to Hawaii. Melody left shortly thereafter in search of musical fulfillment with her singing since she had the voice of an angel. Riley chose to stay behind when the others left, perfectly content to live with his Mom and Dad on their secret little slice of paradise and continue working on his own personal development. Megamind and Roxanne had the three children who left each promise to keep the location of their island a secret, and made sure they all left with the knowledge that they were always welcome on the island of their childhood, no matter what.

Melody returned shortly after she left, having discovered that her father had been right about acceptance of differences in the human world since she'd found only rejection of her vocal talent despite its superior quality. She had, however, met and fallen in love with a young man by the name of Michael Scott. She came back only to tell her parents that her life had led her to him and she was going to be with him despite the anti-alien marriage laws that had been passed in the city. They never got married in the eyes of the law, but the unbreakable bond they'd formed when they'd become mates made the piece of paper unnecessary. After her brief visit, she'd left again and did not return to the island until many years later, and only then to let her three bald-headed strikingly green-eyed children, meet the rest of their family before returning to her life with her husband. Melody and her children, Wayne Jr., Megan and Timothy, were all welcomed with open arms and happy smiles by all, and when they left again, their loss was felt among everyone for days afterward.

Harmony was gone for several years and returned before Rylan, but when she did, she had someone with her. Her bond-husband, a young doctor by the name of Mark Weatherby, had not been able to let her go when she'd said she had to leave to go home once their relationship had become a public problem for them both. Their bond was solid but Mark didn't have the independent wealth to care for Harmony the way Michael could care for Melody, so they'd been forced to flee. Roxanne had understood immediately the situation the two had faced and welcomed the couple into their home with open arms. Megamind and Mark worked together with Minion to construct additions to the house for the new couple to live in and soon there was a grandchild on the way. Alexander was born without much fuss since Mark was there to handle the medical aspect and Minion and Ryan got another small child to fuss over. The baby had his father's light brown eyes but his mother's blue skin. He also had a mop of black curls like his father atop his smaller but still larger than human head. James, their blue eyed, bald son had followed after Alexander's third birthday, much to the family's delight.

Riley learned to seek out communications with others telepathically with his abnormally large brain. While Rylan was away, he'd managed to make contact with an olive-skinned human woman named Milada who lived on the island of Oahu and they had fallen in love without ever having met each other in person. When they did meet in Oahu, just after the birth of his nephew Alexander, the acceptance Milada gave to Riley was complete because the two of them had quite literally gotten to know each other from the inside out. She'd told him that the outside package, while striking and unusual, was just the outer shell to the man she'd fallen in love with. Of course, the longer she was with him, the more attractive she found him. She'd come to live with the rest of the family on the small island and she and Riley were married in the same manner as his parents had been before they began their life bond. A year later, they'd had had twin girls of their own, both of whom had their father's blue skin, but also had straight black hair like their mother: the one named Elaya had inherited the electric green eyes, and the other named Elora had inherited her mother's unique violet eyes. The names had originally belonged to two of Milada's aunts. Milada and Harmony became good friends being sisters as they were and although their lives were far from perfect, they lived as happily as they ever could have.

When Rylan came home the first time, it was after ten years of being away, and he only stayed briefly, to let his parents know that he had become a world-renowned biochemist and geneticist, and although he understood he could never be with a human woman without suffering the same kind of persecution his sister and mother had faced, he had a long and rewarding life on the outside, respected by his colleagues and well known in his field for being on the front lines of all the major discoveries. Although he did stay in contact with Melody since she was the only other member of his family in the real world with him, he still came home sometimes, to enjoy his time with his brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews and all of his large family. They were always the happiest occasions for him and the older he became, the more frequently he visited.

The life-changing adventure Roxanne had begun with the man she now loved more than anything had started with the two of them being accidentally stranded together in a desert. As Roxanne Ritchi Aakil, mother of four, grandmother to seven more, and loving wife to the most incredible man in the world, thought back over the course of her life, she couldn't say that she minded the thought that the most of it had been spent and the rest of it would be spent with her perfect family, stranded together on their own private less-than-deserted island. The life she thought she'd wanted was long since forgotten, and the rewarding love-filled life she had never dreamed possible was the only one she could ever imagine wanting. Naren Megamind Aakil, loving father, doting grandfather, and devoted husband couldn't have agreed more with her on all points. Every day of the rest of their long lives was spent loving and being loved by the beautiful family they'd both helped to create.

THE END

**a/n: Ollo everyone! So, I just had to have a happy ending for them. They all deserved it after what they went through to find each other. And then I got a little carried away with the details of the future. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you sooo much to everyone who took the time to review! You know, I may just keep up with this universe and write some 'Tales from the Island of Heima.' Let me know what you think about that idea, and of course how you feel about how I ended this adventure that took on a life of its own. I look forward to hearing from you!**


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